Our DM is very good at TPK, and the Feed

Today’s post is getting a late start because of another game session with the Kinky D&D group. After getting my head pointed the right direction last time, after it was removed by another party member under a compulsion, my character was ready to take on the world, and plunder the dungeon. Unfortunately we ran into a pair of succubi, sisters as it happened, and once again we had a Total Party Kill. The only one to escape was my NPC apprentice, the half-elf bard, because she ran when she saw what we were up against before the first spell cast or shot fired. Which was good considering that my character was the only one to get a shot off at the succubi, causing enough damage and disruption to the one I hit that she was out of the battle for the rest of the fight, but in the meantime her sister managed to get all the other characters compelled to attack the other members of the party, which given how lethal our characters are is probably the best strategy rather than going toe to toe and slugging it out (except with my character, he can’t fight in melee and has to keep taking 5 foot steps back and casting defensively so going toe to toe with him is a good idea, and going toe to toe with him by compelling another character to attack is even a better idea). Where we made our mistake was not attacking the succubi immediately as they were being held prisoner and we figured they would prefer a unimpeded release to combat. We had a better than even chance to take them out had we just gone in shooting instead of trying to negotiate for their release. Anywho, the bard managed to find the efreeti outside the dungeon (that we had only entered in the first place because there was a tornado coming), and convinced him that it was in his best interests to revive the party so we could rescue his sister from the half-fiend, half-green dragon who was intent on using her as breeding stock. He honored her wish to revive the party and get all the treasure in the dungeon from the areas we had already cleared, and then we moved on to taking care of the efreeti’s quest to save his sister from being forcefully impregnated by the fiend/green dragon. At this point we all had to level up. My warlock is now level 9 and does 5d6 damage with his Eldritch Blast, has a +7 attack bonus against the touch AC at ranges up to 250 feet, and a +8 bonus at ranges inside 30 feet. My apprentice is now 5th level and no longer has to fork over 500GP to my character at every level after this, her apprenticeship is complete (but she’s still an NPC).

The Big Story comes from the Great White North, as a head-on wreck between two cyclists kills one and puts the other in hospital. Jacques-Cartier Bridge bike path crash kills 1 and Fatal cycling collision on Jacques-Cartier Bridge Basically, someone crossed the centerline before daylight on a blind curve (because of the walls that keep the cars out of the bike lane) and heads literally butted. Both cyclists had head injuries, and neither one was wearing a helmet. To prevent with built environment, same thing as I say for drivers, slow down to a speed that you can stop in the distance you can see clearly. To improve the built environment replace the concrete walls with heavy steel bollards filled with concrete and put a transparent wall on the bicycle side of that.

The other Big Story is on this side of the northern border as a suspected drunk driver drives on the wrong side of the road and hits a cyclist head on and kills him instantly. Cyclist killed after being struck by suspected drunk driver on Lookout Mountain and Golden dad out on evening bike ride killed by alleged drunk driver The only thing that will prevent a wreck like this with the built environment is changing the built environment. Driving drunk is already against the law, driving on the wrong side of the road is against the law, and passing more than one vehicle and passing on a double-yellow line are also both against the law. My change recommendation is public execution of drunk drivers and public destruction of their cars, preferably in a single step operation.

Closer to home a cyclist north of the Red River from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell while riding on the shoulder of a road to the right of rumble strips intended to keep cars from driving in the shoulder. Norman bicyclist killed near Purcell I don’t see how this could be avoided by the cyclist, he was hit from behind while riding about 4 feet to the right of the fog line on an 8 foot wide shoulder, about 2 feet to the right of the rumble strip. I suspect that the driver was impaired or distracted, and that nothing short of a barrier-protected bike lane could have prevented this wreck. The likelihood of getting barrier protected bike lanes on a semi-rural OK highway is slightly higher than the likelihood of a magnitude 6.5 quake in OK City.

Over in WI another cyclist is killed by another hit-and-run driver. Suspect in custody after fatal Germantown hit-and-run crash And Suspect in fatal Germantown hit-and-run crash released from custody He is impeding the investigation by refusing to give up the driver. Of course, since he’s probably the driver he’s protected against self-incrimination by the 5th Amendment. So, screw the 5th and charge him as the owner of the vehicle, which makes him responsible for what happens with it. That’s one of the things people are constantly harping about on bicycle registration, that it makes people accountable. Well, if registration makes people accountable, make this owner account for this wreck by going to prison.

And another hit-and-run wreck. Bicyclist injured in hit-and-run The cyclist was injured but the bike was undamaged, a strong indication of a buzz job or punishment pass. This is very similar to the wreck that killed Larry Schwartz outside Plano which precipitated the Ride of Silence in 2003. The main difference here is the cyclist was alive and semi-conscious when someone got to her a few minutes after the wreck. By the time someone found Larry, well that’s why we have a Ride of Silence.

Wanna bet this one gets solved ASAP? Wayne cop struck while training for charity bike ride Nothing on what happened aside from telling who owned the weapon vehicle.

Our Daily Ted (I bet you thought I forgot). Morning Links: Caltrans may remove dangerous Topanga Cyn reflectors; Vision Zero becomes official LA policy

And still in CA, another frikken hit-and-run. MAN ON BICYCLE KILLED IN MARIPOSA HIT AND RUN I am so freaking tired of hit-and-run drivers I could scream.

Last link is from Oz. Australia’s biggest bike-lane skeptic ‘wants to destroy cycling in Sydney’ Neanderthal, ain’t he?

And I’m tired, I have to get up early tomorrow, and I’m still very unhappy about that last link’s comments section.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet

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Vile wickedness, and the usual “stuff” in the Feed

Yes we had vile wickedness just a few miles down the road from me in our Feed this morning, plus more “normal” wrecks and some lifestyle articles as well.

The wreck just down the road from me was in Grand Prairie, and to be honest “vile wickedness” just doesn’t even come close to the kind of depraved indifference displayed in this wreck. Hang on because there are lots of links on this one, that hopefully will not be consolidated or removed before this post gets published. Grand Prairie police arrest man who had mortally injured bicyclist lodged in back seat of his car and Driver hits cyclist, left lodged in car window also Dead Cyclist Found Lodged in Back Seat more at Texas Bicyclist Found Dying In Back Seat Of Car That Struck Him and also Motorist drove home with fatally injured Grand Prairie bicyclist in back seat, police say still more Grand Prairie police say man hit cyclist left him for dead in car and still more Police: Bicyclist Gets Stuck In Car Window & Dies which makes it sound like it was the cyclist’s fault, and finally from my colleague at examiner.com Dying bike rider found in back seat of car that allegedly hit him The depravity of hitting a cyclist head on on the opposite side of the street and if the wreck site given in the articles is correct that is a street that is 2 lanes in each direction with a center turn lane, and the cyclist was hit on the opposite shoulder to the car’s direction of travel. In other words the driver went over 3 lanes from where he was supposed to be to hit this cyclist head on, never touching the brakes and then drove home with the cyclist either hanging through the back window or crumpled upside down in the back seat after coming through the back window, depending on which report you want to believe, or that he stopped and pulled the cyclist the rest of the way through the window, then drove home according to another report. A, B, or C any of the reports shows a depraved indifference to human life and suffering as the cyclist was still alive when paramedics got to the scene, and might have pulled through had he not spent more than an hour bleeding into this waste of skin’s car before medical attention arrived. I say charge him with Capital Murder and send him away forever, or just give him to me for a few hours and then let him find his own way to medical attention after I get through with him. He was drunk, driving on the wrong side of the road, and he removed the victim from the scene without taking him to medical attention. I think a few hours with a baseball bat and a stun gun while he hears what a piece of trash he is, constantly, would be suitable punishment for the crimes he committed.

And after that the rest of the Feed will seem like a walk in the park. A very dark and dangerous park, but a walk in a park nonetheless.

Drivers on the wrong side of the road seems to be a theme this week. Rider Killed When Bicycle, Minivan Collide I don’t know what can be done in cases like this. As a cyclist you really can’t avoid these kinds of wrecks because there is no predicting where the motor vehicle is going to end up, further on your side or attempt to return to his own side. The best you can do is bail for the edge of the road or off of the road if that is a possibility and hope the driver doesn’t keep on coming.

Another reason to not run red lights unless you stop and look. Bicyclist injured in downtown collision with Jeep This one turned out not so bad, but others that have run red lights have died…

LEO still haven’t charged the driver in a wreck that has left a cyclist in a coma for over a week. Investigation continues in wreck that injured bicyclist in Auburn What is taking so long? And why are they waiting for the cyclist to come out of his coma? Do they wait for the Second Coming before charging someone with murder so they know the intentions of the victim? I reported on how to avoid wrecks like this in my initial post on the wreck.

Some jocks do the right thing and get (justifiable) praise. Police praise CU athletes for helping seriously injured cyclist They single out the QB of the football team, but several varsity sports contributed in this effort. The volleyball player was the one that called 911, and one of the other football players went up the hill to get a trainer that was also trained in treating traumatic injuries. as for the wreck itself, it appears to be a hit-from-behind hit-and-run. The usual applies have a mirror and use it to keep cars from sneaking up on you, have an escape route at all times.

They are taking care of the cyclists involved in that horrible wreck in Canadia last month. Fundraiser to help buy bikes for injured cyclists The reason funds must be raised for this is the driver’s insurance doesn’t pay in cases of deliberate action, and it appears the insurance company is throwing the driver under the figurative bus on this one.

The Mayor of Louisville is celebrating non-motorized modes of transportation. Mayor Abramson reveals plans for Hike and Bike This sounds like a fun event, the Poet says do it if you have the time and are near enough.

If anyone ever needed a proof for the “safety in numbers” hypothesis, here it is. Graph of the Day: Bike Ridership and Casualties The number of cyclists went up more than 80% while the number of bike wrecks went down by almost half, meaning that there is now only 1/4^th the risk of getting hit while riding as there was 10 years ago. Still too high of a risk, but much, much better.

Anyone that knows me personally knows I don’t do the “e” word, “exercise”. I just ride my bike to get places, and if I happen to burn a few calories and have a little fun well we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good. Fitness: Bicycling benefits go beyond fitness We could all use a little of this kind of sacrifice…

And that’s the whole thing, lifestyle and wrecks.

Billed @$.02, Opus