The Royal Artificery Society - OOC II: electric boogaloo

[DeTess]

players:


Player
Character
Race


Prehysterical
Bolten Cogturner (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2381427)
Dwarf


Windstruck
Shandara (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1807105)
Drow


MrAbdiel
Aiden Sorveaux (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2562936)
Human




retired players:


Player
Character
Race


Armonia13
Xavier Trafalgar (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2381706)
Human


Sønderjye
Zacharias "Z" Volenta (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2381417)
Human


pi4t
Meredith Dockson (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2383664)
Human


Elbeyon
Symphony of "Zeal" (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24894768&postcount=101)
Warforged



Lore snippets:

Lokhad Forgeheart, Master of the Facilities
Lokhad is an old dwarf, with a long greying beard and piercing blue eyes. He sued to be a talented smith, and still teaches theorethical courses on metallurgy, but his advanced age has robbed him of the strength to properly wield a forging hammer. Instead, he oversees the care and sue of the many workshops on the campus, and deals with misdemeanours of Society members while on campus grounds. He is known for being willing to go to significant lengths to help the members of the Society do their work, but if you purposefully mistreat the facilities or put parts of the campus in danger with reckless experiments he'll make you regret it.

Headmaster Owena Dey
Owena is half-elf, and the Headmaster of the academy housed in the campus. She's a district disciplinarian, and in a constant low-key war with the entertainment district near the campus. Though some might find her moralizing a bit tiresome, there's little doubt that she's got a great eye for talent among both students and prospective teaching staff, and her connections among the high nobility can be of great use to those she favors.

Cirast Overhill, Curator of Alchemy
Cirast is a middle-aged halfling of unusually large size in every dimension except height. He's known as connoisseur of fine dining and finer beverages, and his detractors scoff that his skill at alchemy is merely a side-effect of his desire to brew alcohol from every single fruit, vegetable and mushroom ever discovered. Nonetheless, it'd be a mistake to dismiss his skills. His knowledge of alchemical formulas is vast, and it's been said he can determine the full ingredient list of a potion from just the tiniest of sips.

Maria Escribano, Curator of Engineering
The humans of House Escribano earned its place among the high nobility on the battlefield's of the age of conquest. Their members where the very finest siege engineers in the Emperor's employ, and Maria is no different, though she applies her knowledge too less martial endeavours. She has had her hands in tons of designs, from the aqueducts that provide water throughout Vaungate and many other major cities, to the cranes that help unload ships in the harbor in record time, to the massive wind and watermills that process the empire's grain. Her workshops have produced many fine designs, and it's said that she never does something small.
The only thing that comes close to matching her intellect and creativity is her temper. Those that seek advice or favors from her know to be straight and to the point, as she cannot stand those that waste her time.

Jassin Iliran, Curator of Architecture
"Form and Function" is the motto of the Iliran stoneworks. No embellishment should be without function, but every design should be elegant nonetheless. Jassin considers it to be every Architect's calling to make the most practical building possible, while making the most beautiful building possible. Iliran has designed many of the grandest buildings in the capital, and the elf's style is emulated by many other architects. Apart from the aesthetics, one of the things that sets Iliran apart from their peers is the foresight involved in the elf's designs. The most clear example of this was the expansion of the Imperial theater, where the acoustics of the theater allowed shows to continue even while the work was happening, with none of the noise of construction penetrating into the great halls where performances where being held. This wasn't a happy accident, but a targeted effort by the elf to dampen noise coming from the most likely sites for expansion of the building.

The elf is rarely seen in public, preferring the peace of their offices. Nonetheless, they seem to have an uncanny ability to know exactly what's going on in the city, and where their services will be required.

Ralph Curnow, Curator of Biology
Curnow is the most respected doctor int eh empire. Though frequently called upon to attend the emperor and the high nobility, he makes a point of spending time to advice in the various hospitals and wards in the poorer districts as well. He helps who he can, irrespective of their social status, and treats everyone with the same firm but friendly way. He's dictated several books on best practices in medicine, including the importance of cleanliness to avoiding infections, and he has helped end many harmful practices based on what he considers 'counterfactual superstitions'.
However, he is only one man, and though many have sought to study under him, he has never made time to teach, referring those that would seek his mentorship to others, or to his books instead. There are also periods in which he becomes completely unavailable, something those closer to him attribute to his unwillingness tos top working until his body forces him to get rest.

Kou Maron, Curator of the Archives
When many people think of an Archivist, they imagine a stuffy and old librarian, constantly fussing over books. And this is true for quite a few of the archivists on the campus, but not for Kou. She's the youngest person to ever hold the title at only 27 years of age, and spends most of her time away from the archives. Instead she travels the empire and beyond, tracking down rare volumes and bringing them back. Her capacity for finding rare volumes is without peer, and she's found many books thought lost forever.
When she is in the capital, the young catfolk is visited by many researchers looking to convince her to track down a work they need next. She also spends time recovering works that have been lost in the labyrinthine depths of the archives themselves, as her near-perfect memory allow her to effortlessly track down every book currently in the collection.

Szid Dustmark, Curator of artifice
Little is known about Szid's history. The kobold arrived at the campus one day, walked into an artificer's workshop and casually corrected an incredibly complicated enchantment the artificer had been working on for weeks. Szid speaks very little, and spends most of his time holed up in his small office, working on the most wondrous designs, though many of them are too complicated for anyone else but him to implement, and he rarely turns his designs into reality. Nevertheless, many improvements in the field of artifice and enchantment have been made through decoding the diminutive kobold's designs, even if the full extend of his work is still beyond the understanding of most in his field.



Raimel Tarian
Raimel is the current emperor, and like the rest of the Tarian dynasty he's a half-elf. He finished the unification of the empire in his youth after the death of his father in battle, and has ruled (mostly, there where a couple of rebellions in his early reign) in peace. He's well liked among the general populace as a fair and reasonably generous ruler, and he's respected among the Nobles as a just arbiter of conflicts, as well as feared for being a ferocious general. However, there are rumours at court that the now venerable emperor's mind is slowly starting to fail, and a variety of nobles are looking to try to take advantage of this.

Isalar Tarian
Isalar is the emperor's grand-daughter and heir. She grew up on the frontier, but has recently been called to the Empire's capital of Vaungate. She's still something of a wild-card at court, generally keeping to herself, but those that have had cause to deal with her talk about her cunning intellect and sharp wits.

The government
Though the emperor is of course the leader of the empire, he does very little direct governing. Most of this is handled by the layers of Dukes, earls and barons below him. The emperor primarily issues general orders and edicts that the nobles need to execute, and handles disputes between nobles. Though the dukes have estates in the capital and spend at least several months each year at the court themselves, most of the other nobles are spread across the empire, governing their land in accordance with the emperor's laws and wishes, but having a reasonable amount of freedom with regards to how they implement the emperor's will. Some rule alone and with an iron fist, while others have instituted councils of influential citizens to aid with their decision making. Some Nobles are well-liked, others are miniature tyrants only barely kept in check by the empire's laws.

Vaungate
Vaungate is the empire's capital, and a massive city with a population just in excess of 1 million citizens. Though many of its citizens are affluent, there are some poorer slums in the citys outskirts. The city itself houses many vaunted institutions, such as the Artificery Society, the Temple Conclave, the High Tribunal and the headquarters of the Ranger's guild (think a cross between an adventurer's guild and an empire-wide police force). And of course at the centre of the city lies the emperor's cout and the estates of the high Nobles that directly attend him.

The Artificery Society campus
The artificery society occupies a large campus on the city's outskirts. Within the campus are workshops, libraries, dormitories, observatories, lecture halls and all the other buildings needed to keep an institute of science and learning running. Technically outside of the campus, but considered part of it are the personal workshops and residences of the more influential members of the society. The campus is bustling and busy at all times of the day, alive with the hammering of forges, the trundling of waterwheels and the crackle of magical contraptions as the members of the society ply their trade.

Right outside the campus is a bustling entertainment district as well, where the students that come to study under the teachers of the society congregate during their free time.

The harbor district
The harbor district is home to one of the largest markets in the city, where exotic goods from all voer the empire and beyond are traded. Here one can find anything from fish to spices to exotic animals to rare metals. It is often said that if you cannot find it in this market, it does not exist. Clustered around the market are the offices of a number of 'acquisitions firms', Merchants specializing in finding rare and exotic goods for their clients, primarily Nobles, but also the occasional artificer.

races in the empire
Humans and half-humans (half-elves, half-orcs) make up a significant portion, with the other core races (Elves, dwarves, gnomes) having significant populations as well. Anything else is rarer. Though an attempt has been made and is being made to culturally integrate everyone, there are differences based on the area's people hail from, though differences based purely on race are rarer, as the various races often intermingled in the smaller kingdoms and fiefdoms before the current empire took over.

However, the dwarves in particular make up significant sub-cultures with their own set of habits and unspoken rules because most dwarven clans got integrated in the empire through rather favorable treaties, rather than conquest. Most emperors during the age of conquest had the wise response of 'Yeah, screw that' when confronted with the prospect of laying siege to a dwarven hold, while most dwarven clans understood that it'd be best to learn to live and deal with the sprawling empire that now surrounded their mountain homes.


IC thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?625943-The-Royal-Artificery-Society-IC
First OOC thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?625942-The-Royal-Artificery-Society-OOC

[DeTess]

@windstruck, how exactly where you planning to go about trying to send water back?

Regarding your experiments with the wood, the wood as a whole is slightly magical, but not in a way that is associated with any particular school. You also noticed that if you cast light directly at one of the crystal veins, it lights up and will remain lit for several hours before eventually fading. Ghost stound will cause the specific vein you cast it as to vibrate slightly for just a moment.

[MrAbdiel]

Hmm. How many weeks/months til Midwinter?

[WindStruck]

@windstruck, how exactly where you planning to go about trying to send water back?

So what Shandara is using are some metal rings, maybe aluminum, tin, or silver? Just needs to be something somewhat workable and not completely flimsy. Hopefully not too expensive too.

As in with her first experiments, one ring effectively summons the water within it, and it spews out. In order to try sending it back, first she'll want a large bucket and to suspend the first ring above it. The idea is the water collects in the bucket. Then when she activates the second ring, the idea is it's just a reversal of the first.

It would ideally be kind of like teleport or plane shift, though I can see how it's problematic and not so simple as "reversing" something. Whereas in the first case I'm attracting or pulling something, now we are pushing something.

The idea is, "take water from within this ring/area, send it to plane of water at xyzy15249 coordinates" or whatever. Normally this would be quite difficult as there would already be water there, but the idea is effectively replacing the water we are taking?

Also, please let me know of any further expenses on these experiments. I've already deducted the rental fee for the lab room.

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, 7 weeks from now.

@windstruck, could you roll me a knowledge (the planes) and a knowledge (arcana)?

[WindStruck]

Oh boy, here we go!

planes: [roll0]

And I'll use my casting of investigative mind for arcana.

arcana: [roll1]

or [roll2]

[DeTess]

Okay, so what you pretty quickly find out is that just reversing the process doesn't work. It is a bit like trying to pour water into a bucket that is already full. You can think of two ways to try and get around it. First is brute force, with enough energy you can force water to go against the flow. A more energy efficient, but difficult to execute on option would be to adapt the process so first some space is created you could then fill with water, turning the entire thing into a two-step process. Of course, if your only goal is to have a way to dump water somewhere it won't bother you, sending it to some other plane that is not full of water, like the elemental plane of fire, might be easier.

edit: it should be noted that if you sync up your taking and returning rings to operate at the same time from the same spot that would work, but the end result is no water created, and you'd pretty quickly start getting the same bit of water cycling between the two rings. Still, there might be something you could do with that process.

[WindStruck]

Okay, so what you pretty quickly find out is that just reversing the process doesn't work. It is a bit like trying to pour water into a bucket that is already full. You can think of two ways to try and get around it. First is brute force, with enough energy you can force water to go against the flow. A more energy efficient, but difficult to execute on option would be to adapt the process so first some space is created you could then fill with water, turning the entire thing into a two-step process. Of course, if your only goal is to have a way to dump water somewhere it won't bother you, sending it to some other plane that is not full of water, like the elemental plane of fire, might be easier.

edit: it should be noted that if you sync up your taking and returning rings to operate at the same time from the same spot that would work, but the end result is no water created, and you'd pretty quickly start getting the same bit of water cycling between the two rings. Still, there might be something you could do with that process.

Yes, that's the general idea for when we want to "recycle" water without being wasteful, as in... operating a decorative fountain, for instance. Perhaps, there could even be water mills operated in such a fashion! Almost like a perpetual motion machine! Except that really shouldn't be allowed to work. I'm sure the costs of magic energy and materials make up for it.

Now that you mention it, and I'm thinking about it more, perhaps this whole endeavor is simply ... stupid? My main concern was regarding unsustainable practices and trying to "put back" what was taken, but if I wanted to have something like a fountain... I could just have a SINGLE ring, pulling water from a designated reservoir on the same plane. :smallsigh:

So.. I think maybe we should just scrap this idea.

[DeTess]

Yes, that's the general idea for when we want to "recycle" water without being wasteful, as in... operating a decorative fountain, for instance. Perhaps, there could even be water mills operated in such a fashion! Almost like a perpetual motion machine! Except that really shouldn't be allowed to work. I'm sure the costs of magic energy and materials make up for it.

Now that you mention it, and I'm thinking about it more, perhaps this whole endeavor is simply ... stupid? My main concern was regarding unsustainable practices and trying to "put back" what was taken, but if I wanted to have something like a fountain... I could just have a SINGLE ring, pulling water from a designated reservoir on the same plane. :smallsigh:

So.. I think maybe we should just scrap this idea.

There might still be useful things to this process. Plus, the Artificery society does do research for the sake of it as well, so if nothing else you can write a paper about your findings as you planned.

[WindStruck]

Hello, just checking in. Not sure where to go from here. It seems there won't be much challenge (aside from spending plain time and effort) into finishing up the report that Shandara wants to write up. And that will probably not take but a day or two more to finish and polish off.

So, will there be any special events or interactions that happen when finishing this?

Or if not, maybe the next thing to do is waiting to meet up with Aiden again?

[DeTess]

Sorry, health has been a bit all over the place last week, so I had little energy left for the game.

@windstruck, if you have no further experiments left to do you can finish your write-up in a day or two without any issues.

@prehysterical, could you roll me a craft (clockwork) or similar?

@mrambdiel, can you roll me a craft (woodwork) for the violin prototype? I assume you're using the fancier woods you got, and since those aren't generally used for musical instruments you can't take 10.

[MrAbdiel]

Cooly cool. Well, I think by the time he gets home, it's more than halfway through the day; and he might just put that time into the boat with the lads and daydreaming about his art project for the Archduchess. But the next day he'll get to it.

He's fascinated by the new wood but expects that might take him a little slower, more careful effort to pull off. So his plan is to make a regular violin in the style he intends to make the later masterwork one from the special wood; the masterwork coming in the form more present in particular resonance qualities and such things that are unlikely to radically change through the process. That way, Shandara can get to work imagining how she will get to enchant the thing.

I'll mark off the 1gp,6sp,7cp it costs for the raw mats for a regular violin; but I'll roll even though he's using normal wood. He's trying to make this one with enchanting in mind, with a few of the insights he gleaned from briefly borrowing Shandara's enchanting skill, after all.

I think I'll hold off using that day's +8 luck bonus because... it's starting to feel a tad cheesy to lean on it when we're working in this timescale. A 'little' roll like this doesn't quite deserve it!

[roll0]. No need to accelerate the creation, so the DC for a high complexity item is typically 20.

34*20=680sp worth of woodwork in a week, or 97sp 1cp in a day's work. ~9GP is clobbers the base cost of 5GP for the normal quality instrument, though I'll naturally yield to suggestions that it takes more time because of enchanting considerations etc. But under normal conditions he should crank it out the following day and deliver it to Shandara that evening. Then he's free to start doing some small experimentation on the Tundra Oak and Bogwood. If there's anything he can do to increase his odds of successfully completing the product, sort of practical research on the materials in his workshop, he'd be keen to do some of that.

[WindStruck]

If need be, Shandara does have spells like Crafter's Fortune which could help with a project like this. But it seems Aiden has this. :smallwink:

[MrAbdiel]

Awesome spell. I can only apply the highest bonus between it, and his Inexplicable Luck; but I would feel less dishonest using the spell sometimes instead of exploiting the timescale of the game to use the feat for every roll!

[DeTess]

34*20=680sp worth of woodwork in a week, or 97sp 1cp in a day's work. ~9GP is clobbers the base cost of 5GP for the normal quality instrument, though I'll naturally yield to suggestions that it takes more time because of enchanting considerations etc. But under normal conditions he should crank it out the following day and deliver it to Shandara that evening. Then he's free to start doing some small experimentation on the Tundra Oak and Bogwood. If there's anything he can do to increase his odds of successfully completing the product, sort of practical research on the materials in his workshop, he'd be keen to do some of that.

Yeah, you can have it ready on the next day.

Regarding experiments you could do, for the bog wood the main concern is its acoustic properties. It is very soft and porous, almost spongy, s you could make a simpler instrument to experiment with that (maybe a basic flute). For the Tundra Oak the acoustic properties are also a bit off a concern, but the main trouble will be working it in a precise way due to how hard it is. You could just practice a little in that regard, or look into the specific methods used to shape it to see if there is anything you could learn from that.

[WindStruck]

For porous wood, maybe you could coat it in a thin layer of wax?

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, I feel like +3000 gp is a bit much for a tool set made of adamantine, but I also established that the price of adamantine is currently higher than normal due to a shortage, so let's just go with that price for the current situation.

[MrAbdiel]

For porous wood, maybe you could coat it in a thin layer of wax?

A good plan to avoid it taking on water - a bit of the old wax and varnish! But the softness of it makes me think it'll make a bad violin based on the tension element (see IC post for rambling!) So I think we're going with the hardwood... if I can soften it temporarilly. I feel like using Shape Wood is cheating, though...


@mrabdiel, I feel like +3000 gp is a bit much for a tool set made of adamantine, but I also established that the price of adamantine is currently higher than normal due to a shortage, so let's just go with that price for the current situation.

Excellent.

Also, prohibitively expensive! Aiden will have to do everything else first; and then perhaps use a single adamantine chisel he borrows or something, and take a penalty!

[Prehysterical]

Certainly.

Bolten will be casting Crafter's Fortune before the check.

Craft (Clockwork): [roll0]

[DeTess]

No issues with realizing your design. In fact, you can add another minor feature to it as you work without any further rolls if you want.

[WindStruck]

I am wondering if the society has a workshop with tools he can borrow? That would be a lot more sensible than shelling out 3000 gp for some tools you probably only use for one job. Also 3000 gp you don't have. :smallbiggrin:

[MrAbdiel]

Yeah... Getting some magic super tools is high on my OOC priority list; but IC my priorities are making little overalls for rats and helping orphans repair boats and building a big fancy house and donating my busking money to charity.

When I make the masterpiece for the Winter Ball, I'll use my commission money to get some better tools.. but for now, gotta figure a way to brute force through this Tundra Oak problem if we wanna make some simoleans helping the ranger out!

[DeTess]

I am wondering if the society has a workshop with tools he can borrow? That would be a lot more sensible than shelling out 3000 gp for some tools you probably only use for one job. Also 3000 gp you don't have. :smallbiggrin:

That is an option, though for adamantine tools there might be a bit of a waiting list involved. But Aiden could definitely check with the facilities office to see if there is something available to hire.

[MrAbdiel]

That is an option, though for adamantine tools there might be a bit of a waiting list involved. But Aiden could definitely check with the facilities office to see if there is something available to hire.

Then he will do so when I next post!

Also:


There was just one thing that was bothering Shandara. If she warded the violin against the sonic energy type, would it have difficulty or be impossible to play music with it? She wasn't about to waste resources testing out a permanent enchantment to find out. Instead, she would seek out someone who could cast a spell temporarily on the object.

That's... fascinating, actually. Imagine the implications.

"Ah, the Deafness spell? Yes, in fact it's actually a sort of variation of Endure Elements, 'protecting' the subject against 'environmental' sonic effects... like those which routinely vibrate the eardrum."

[Prehysterical]

No issues with realizing your design. In fact, you can add another minor feature to it as you work without any further rolls if you want.
Can Bolten come up with an ink tray reload system that will minimize mess and increase the amount of printing per load?

[WindStruck]

I think I've progressed another day or two. If it's too hard to carve some rune markings into the wood (because Shandara's not actually a carpenter) I think simply marking/inking them will work for now.

She should also be in the process of actually writing up a paper, preparing to publish it.

For now, though, I just need to find someone I can pay to cast resist elements (sonic) on the violin.

[DeTess]

Can Bolten come up with an ink tray reload system that will minimize mess and increase the amount of printing per load?

Sure, that should be fine.



For now, though, I just need to find someone I can pay to cast resist elements (sonic) on the violin.

How did you want to go about that? You could post a notice somewhere, or just try asking around on the campus, or some other approach I didn't immediately think off.

[WindStruck]

How did you want to go about that? You could post a notice somewhere, or just try asking around on the campus, or some other approach I didn't immediately think off.

I'm not really sure on the specifics of the details, but in a big city like this, game rules would state that it's generally possible to simply buy this service from someone or somewhere. So I don't think going through the lengths of posting a notice is needed, but there should probably be several likely places I could try asking.. like shops that sell magic items, or perhaps there are some known sorcerers or wizards around here.

[DeTess]

I'm not really sure on the specifics of the details, but in a big city like this, game rules would state that it's generally possible to simply buy this service from someone or somewhere. So I don't think going through the lengths of posting a notice is needed, but there should probably be several likely places I could try asking.. like shops that sell magic items, or perhaps there are some known sorcerers or wizards around here.

Oh, yeah, there is little doubt that you'll be able to find someone, but the way you go about it might influence who you find. And within the artificery society every third person or so can cast some sort of spell. The spell you're looking for is a 2nd level one so the amount of people that could actually cast it is a bit more limited than that of course, but if you're just going to ask around I can run with that. I'll try to post sometime tomorrow or the day after that with who you managed to find.

[WindStruck]

I think the most convenient thing would be asking around at some known magic shops. Shandara can also wait a day or two for them to prepare the spell on a following day.

[DeTess]

Since I did a mistake and posted in the wrong OOC thread. @windstruck, mrabdiel said Auden would be playing as usual, so you can assume he is there.

@mrabdiel, no problem, hope you get better soon.

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, you'd notice that there are some differences in the way the violin sounds. It's not really noticeable during quickly changing segments, but during more drawn out notes they tend to fade more quickly/ require more effort to maintain than they normally would. In general it feels like the sound is being dampened just a little.

[MrAbdiel]

@mrabdiel, you'd notice that there are some differences in the way the violin sounds. It's not really noticeable during quickly changing segments, but during more drawn out notes they tend to fade more quickly/ require more effort to maintain than they normally would. In general it feels like the sound is being dampened just a little.

Got it!

Oh, and Shandara is lying to the world's most credulous man, huh? I was gonna roll sense motive - he'll likely fail... But you know what? He has no reason in the world to imagine she would not be truthful! So I won't even roll.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, the man at the shop doesn't ask for any payment for the spell cast. He seems happy to be able to contribute just a little help another artificer along with their own project.

[MrAbdiel]

Aiden is positively moved by this act of charity and promises to refer relevant business this way.

[WindStruck]

Well, research was planned ahead, and so guess what, investigative mind is prepared. So to answer Shandara's question:

arcana: [roll0] or [roll1]

Reminder: trying to find that exception in Resist Energy (Sonic). How does it work? Can it be modified? How does this energy type differ from the other energy types?

I'll assume with a high enough roll here, she can figure out how to eliminate the dampening effect? And possibly, add a bonus effect, or have to compromise something else.

[DeTess]

Right, so the exception essentially holds a definition for frequency ranges and volume of the sound that are deemed safe, and lets them pass through the protection. Th small dampening that is happening is because the order of operations is more or less: apply protection -> check if sonic energy is within the exception's tolerances -> if yes, let through. This essentially results in the full protection applying for a very, very short amount of time on good sound, dampening it out. You could of course reverse the order, but that would result in the opposite problem of weakening the enchantment as it lets through harmful energy for a very short moment.

You can think of two elegant ways to solve this issue. One would be to, instead of applying the enchantment directly to the violin, instead adding an enchantment that creates a small field directly around the violin that only checks for energy coming in from the outside. This would leave the violin and the sound coming from it unaffected. It would also be easy to add any other protective enchantments to the same field, and even add a trigger to expand the field to encompass the violin's user and maybe other nearby humanoids as well. The larger field would be weaker though, or require extra energy to be supplied.

The other option would be to change the exception to instead simply check if the sonic energy is coming from the violin or from the outside. This check is simpler and far quicker, so could safely be done before the protection kicks in without risk of harmful energy coming through. You could also then easily piggyback onto this check if you wanted to add an enchantment that increases the sound of the violin.

[WindStruck]

Ah the first option reminds me of something interesting from an online game. It had a skill for bards+dancers that made a field that reduced elemental damage taken by everyone within it. I do think I like that idea, seeing as he also was asking for a way to support his other party members as well.

Okay, I'll select that then. :smallsmile:

So Shandara will get to work planning out the enchantments on the mock-up violin, and also planning for the extra power source needed to expand the field out.

I wonder, do you think it's possible to tap into whatever arcane energies a bard has to help power it as well?

[DeTess]

I wonder, do you think it's possible to tap into whatever arcane energies a bard has to help power it as well?

Yes, definitely. You could have it require a spell slot from the bard to activate, for example.

[WindStruck]

Yes, it's a cool idea, although, how much power could I reasonably expect to get out of a bard? If this world is E6, then typically, I think the highest spell level a bard can cast is level 1, and they probably don't have too many spell slots to throw around?

Their spell level is what worries me the most though. I don't think a level 1 spell slot should be enough to cover what amounts to a mass version of a level 2 spell?

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea. Just want to make sure it is balanced?

[DeTess]

Yes, it's a cool idea, although, how much power could I reasonably expect to get out of a bard? If this world is E6, then typically, I think the highest spell level a bard can cast is level 1, and they probably don't have too many spell slots to throw around?

Their spell level is what worries me the most though. I don't think a level 1 spell slot should be enough to cover what amounts to a mass version of a level 2 spell?

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea. Just want to make sure it is balanced?

Yeah, just to add some numbers to it, a 1st level spell slot would allow him to expand the protection just to himself for a minute. It'd need a second level spell slot to get it out to a radius of 10 feet for 1 minute. Whether or not he has access to 2nd level spells lots is something you are unsure about. It's not impossible, he is a member of the ranger's guild after all, so that means he is probably fairly high level, but it's not guaranteed either.

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, could you roll me a diplomacy for gathering information?

[MrAbdiel]

Nothing would please me more! [roll0]!

[DeTess]

For your research into the Vilfaren family you find that their history is about as old as the empire itself is, and it has been very well documented. Back when the empire was a modest city state the person that would found the Vilfaren family was an adventurer leading a skilled band of companions that did many good deeds for the city. As a reward Vilfaren was granted a noble title and his house became a close ally of what would become the Imperial family. Throughout the long process of uniting what is now the empire the house of Vilfaren would always be the royal family's closest ally, assisting with their martial prowess and wealth.

Over the years their influence had waned quite a bit, remaining a close ally to the throne but with diminishing monetary resources and lands. However, this changed when the Archduchess rose to power. Her husband died shortly after their first child, a son, was born (now about 20 years ago). Lady Angeline Vilfaren, to use her full name, had not shown a great interest in the affairs of her house before and was expected to appoint a steward after her husband's passing, but instead she took control of her family's resources and used them to revitalize the ailing noble family, restoring the family's wealth through shrewd trading and expanding their influence as well. Thanks to her work there is little doubt nowt hat house Vilfaren is second only to the royal family in power and influence. In fact, if it hadn't been for the close ties between the two families there might have been worries that house Vilfaren might try to eclipse the royal family under the archduchess' guidance. However, the Archduchess has always made it clear that she considered herself a loyal servant to the emperor, and never made any move to oppose the imperial family.

I can elaborate more on anything you want more details on, of course.

As for looking into methods to work tundra wood, you spend some time playing around the shipyards and talking to the workers and you learn some things. First of all, you do indeed need tools made from hard metals to work tundra wood. Apparently the tools used at the shipyards are a hardened steel alloy, and need repairing and sharpening often when used on Tundra oak.

You also learn that Tundra oak becomes more pliable and easier to work with if it is submerged in very hot, but not boiling water for several hours. However, this is apparently a somewhat risky procedure. If the water gets too hot or the wood is submerged for too long then the Tundra oak could loose its peculiar strength permanently, and even if is is done correctly the wood's resistance to fire and flames is weakened, though apparently this loss can be countered by freezing the wood shortly after the treatment. Apparently, this treatment is done mostly if Tundra oak needs to be used in locations where the wood needs a significant curve, like near the bow of the ship.

[MrAbdiel]

This is all excellent information. I think Aiden is ready to proceed to his evening booking to experiment on some of his samples; he'll definately experiment with steaming the wood rather than boiling it, to see if that works. Steaming wood to bend it is common enough, and might not be relevent for large timbers for ships but still 'good enough' for small samples like for the violin. He won't think ahead to get something to rapidly chill the wood to test that part - he'll just have to try to make a friend with a mage who is working in one of the other workshops at the time!

What do we know about the archduchess's son? He's 20 years old now, presumably being groomed to one day run the family. Is he accomplished, or.. thought of poorly?

And are there any particular luminaries or shameful representatives in her family history (aside from Vilfaren specifically)? You don't need to make up and then give me all the deets, but Aiden would take notes because if he's planning a work that represents her family he needs to know where to draw attention and where to subtly de-emphasize elements of the lineage.

[DeTess]

What do we know about the archduchess's son? He's 20 years old now, presumably being groomed to one day run the family. Is he accomplished, or.. thought of poorly?

And are there any particular luminaries or shameful representatives in her family history (aside from Vilfaren specifically)? You don't need to make up and then give me all the deets, but Aiden would take notes because if he's planning a work that represents her family he needs to know where to draw attention and where to subtly de-emphasize elements of the lineage.

The son has not been in the public eye much. He has appeared during large social events (such as past midwinter festivities), but the mentions of him you find in the archives aren't particularly detailed. One article describes him as a 'thoughtful young man', but that's about it. You do find that he is currently accompanying a Vilfaren-sponsored expedition to the far West.

Regarding, other luminaries in the Vilfaren include the current Archduches' grandfather (now deceased), who was knows as the Iron Duke and served as one of the most renowned generals in the closing portion of the unification wars, and a great-great-grandmother of the current archduchess who was knows as the 'peacemaker' for her skill t negotiating treaties for the empire. You find little in the way of black sheep, which is remarkable given that over the many generations that have been documented there must have been some.

@windstruck, I presume you'll be working further on the enchantments the coming evening? Anything else you want to do?

[WindStruck]

Oh yes, Shandara has a lot on her plate. First she would have to finish working out the spell into a more paper or book form wizards are familiar with. And then she would have to figure out how to translate that into runes and such directly on the violin which are permanently enchanted. Then, finally, if she wanted to add more features, figure out how to cram those onto the violin as well, and how to power them...

And if she has any more free time, she'll be proofreading and finalizing the paper she was writing up.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, if you could give me a roll for your further research I'd appreciate it.

@mrabdiel, could you roll me a carpentry roll to see how much you figure out in your time in the lab?

[MrAbdiel]

Nothing would please me more! I'll throw the daily luck on this one, for sure.

[roll0]!

Edit: and I'm glad I did.

[WindStruck]

Well I guess it will just be more arcana then.

[roll0] or [roll1]

[DeTess]

@windstruck, you've done gem storage of energy before, including recharging them, so you can draw on that easily enough for this project.

Regarding expanding the field, there are two ways you could go about it.

First, you could define in the enchantment three different sizes (normal, personal and area) and simply set up triggers that move it from one size to another, at which point it would also draw more energy as needed from storage.

The other would be to not define the size at all, but have it scale based on the available energy. You could then add additional enchantments tot he storage medium to set a trigger to increase or decrease energy provided. This second option ahs the advantage that a spellcaster could feed in energy of their own to increase the field's size, and even fine-tune it a little based on requirements.

[WindStruck]

So can I not have a trigger that increases the size and need for energy, and only takes that energy from a caster that triggered it?

[DeTess]

So can I not have a trigger that increases the size and need for energy, and only takes that energy from a caster that triggered it?

That's also possible. Any mentions of storage in the previous post can also refer to a humanoid provider of magic energy (or draconic, or... well, you get the deal)

[DeTess]

Let me just roll to see how fast Aiden can find someone by randomly knocking on other workshop doors.

[roll0]

[DeTess]

@windstruck, did you enchant that disk to last more than a few uses, or just as a quick experimental test object meant only to hold for a handful of uses? That'll significantly impact the cost involved.

[WindStruck]

@windstruck, did you enchant that disk to last more than a few uses, or just as a quick experimental test object meant only to hold for a handful of uses? That'll significantly impact the cost involved.

I did mean for it to be a "quick experimental test object" but by no means would I want to lower the quality of the experiment.

However, seeing as the energy comes from a subject that offers a lv 1 spell slot, I guess I'm having trouble seeing how it would only work a couple times. :smallconfused:

Maybe it's just a legacy d&d cost calculating thing?

[DeTess]

However, seeing as the energy comes from a subject that offers a lv 1 spell slot, I guess I'm having trouble seeing how it would only work a couple times. :smallconfused:



In world it'd mean you'd use less/cheaper materials to draw the magical runes) circuits and the like which would wear out after a few uses.

[WindStruck]

Well okay. For a temporary experiment like this, cheaper stuff is good.

[DeTess]

In that case it's only 25gp of reagents with [roll0] uses left (you can tell how many uses it has left by studying it for a bit).

[WindStruck]

Alright. I'm not sure what else I need to have Shandara do...

I believe I have written out everything I can for her regarding the violin. So the mockup violin could in theory be worked by her and enchanted, however, she has essentially made it only a template without spending any magical reagents. All the runes and gems would need to be placed on the real violin made of Tundra Wood...

Which I believe starts off with base hardness 8, immune to cold, and with 25 fire resistance. Shandara would enchant it with a field similar to her wooden disk, but it protects from sonic, acid, and lightning. It can be expanded to the wielder by expending a 1st level spell slot (for a minute?) or be expanded to protect a 10' radius area by expending a charge from one of the rechargeable gems (thinking 2 gems, and this also lasts a minute?).

Also, the hardness of the violin would be magically increased by +10, or maybe +12? Which would cost 5000 gp or 7200 gp respectively. I think that would be the end price for the buyer, correct? So maybe +12 is too much, but it would be kinda nice to make it immune to admantine attacks.

Dang... If something were to happen to this bard and his party, the only thing left will be the violin! :smallbiggrin: Which also makes me think... maybe a nice feature would be some kind of homing/distress beacon?

Or what if.. there was a spell that would shrink his entire party and hide them safely within the violin? Seems a bit silly though. :smalltongue:

[DeTess]

Alright. I'm not sure what else I need to have Shandara do...

I believe I have written out everything I can for her regarding the violin. So the mockup violin could in theory be worked by her and enchanted, however, she has essentially made it only a template without spending any magical reagents. All the runes and gems would need to be placed on the real violin made of Tundra Wood...

Which I believe starts off with base hardness 8, immune to cold, and with 25 fire resistance. Shandara would enchant it with a field similar to her wooden disk, but it protects from sonic, acid, and lightning. It can be expanded to the wielder by expending a 1st level spell slot (for a minute?) or be expanded to protect a 10' radius area by expending a charge from one of the rechargeable gems (thinking 2 gems, and this also lasts a minute?).

Also, the hardness of the violin would be magically increased by +10, or maybe +12? Which would cost 5000 gp or 7200 gp respectively. I think that would be the end price for the buyer, correct? So maybe +12 is too much, but it would be kinda nice to make it immune to admantine attacks.



This all seems about right. Of course, if you want to add more features to the violin, you could...

[WindStruck]

We are on a budget though, and I'm not sure how much we'll be spending at the moment.. :smalleek:

[MrAbdiel]

It feels perhaps excessive to make it immune to adamantine attacks! I'd thought immunity to incidental combat damage was sort of the gold standard here. But then, I guess having the world's most permanent violin is saying something too!

[WindStruck]

So anyway, I believe I've got all my ducks in a row for Shandara. I've probably gone ahead a day or two temporally, just waiting on Aiden to finish experimenting with his wood? And then make the violin? Although, I suppose he would want to see the marking and stuff Shandara has put on the mock-up violin first.

If it will be a while until MrAbdiel is caught up, should we do something relevant with the paper Shandara was working on publishing?

[DeTess]

So anyway, I believe I've got all my ducks in a row for Shandara. I've probably gone ahead a day or two temporally, just waiting on Aiden to finish experimenting with his wood? And then make the violin? Although, I suppose he would want to see the marking and stuff Shandara has put on the mock-up violin first.

If it will be a while until MrAbdiel is caught up, should we do something relevant with the paper Shandara was working on publishing?

It might be a bit? Sorry, health is still full of ups and downs. I'll try to post again sometime this weekend or early next week to move things along a bit again.

[MrAbdiel]

It might be a bit? Sorry, health is still full of ups and downs. I'll try to post again sometime this weekend or early next week to move things along a bit again.

No worries. As always, RL>RP; get your rest and whatever you need, and our magical violin will be there when you are free again.

[WindStruck]

It's okay if you're feeling down!

It's just good to check in every now and then, to make sure we aren't waiting on someone who is waiting on us. :smalltongue:

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, what were your plans for the tools?

@windstruck, I think there's some time yet before Aiden catches up with Shandara, so if you want to do something else in the meantime, feel free to do so.

@prehysterical, if you look closely at the letter plate you'll see that the 'd' in question is ever so slightly shallower than the other letters. It was no issue when you tested it, but Thomas seems to use a bit less force than you do while operating the machine, making the issue come out.

[WindStruck]

We could go down the thread of Shandara finishing up publishing that paper I've been mentioning, if you think that could yield something interesting.

[Prehysterical]

I'll have Bolten make a Knowledge (Engineering) check before he answers: [roll0]

[DeTess]

I'll have Bolten make a Knowledge (Engineering) check before he answers: [roll0]

So, in addition to what I listed above, you reckon the following measures could help mitigate such imperfections. First of all, for the letters, you'd need to make certain that they all get as close to a uniform height as possible. making molds and casting the letters could help get that uniformity without having to spend more time making them by han, though it does mean more up-front effort if some new symbol is required. The other area, the pressure exerted during the printing could be helped by including a spring-loaded mechanism or similar to ensure that the pressure is always the same, and is not dependent on the operator.

Another option could be to have the plate be applied twice rather than once to increase the chances of one of the two applications being 'correct', though you would have to ensure the paper does not move at all between applications.

edit: @windstruck, you could continue with that, yes, though you're close to done with preparing the paper.

[WindStruck]

I'd say it should be finished by now. Where would Shandara bring such a thing?

[DeTess]

I'd say it should be finished by now. Where would Shandara bring such a thing?

Depends on what Shandara wants to do with it exactly. You could submit it to the archives to share it with others that look into the topic, but you could also try and get it published through one of the society departments to gain wider recognition for it, though that would take some more work in tracking down the right department and talking to the right people.

[WindStruck]

Perhaps there is a famous journal that makes publications monthly or such? I know I must be thinking of a magazine in real life that people might keep up with....

Well I don't think I should be posting links, but something like one of those AAAS journals or the Scientific American might be a good equivalent. We just need a good name for such a journal in this setting...

Artificery Advances
The Truenamer
Tarian Thaumaturgy
Wizardry Monthly

I don't know. They're getting lamer by the second! But yes, in addition to trying to get it published in something more well-known and prestigious, I guess she'll also officially file her findings into the archives as well.

[DeTess]

Perhaps there is a famous journal that makes publications monthly or such? I know I must be thinking of a magazine in real life that people might keep up with....

Well I don't think I should be posting links, but something like one of those AAAS journals or the Scientific American might be a good equivalent. We just need a good name for such a journal in this setting...

Artificery Advances
The Truenamer
Tarian Thaumaturgy
Wizardry Monthly

I don't know. They're getting lamer by the second! But yes, in addition to trying to get it published in something more well-known and prestigious, I guess she'll also officially file her findings into the archives as well.

Yeah, that's basically what i meant when I said 'you could also try and get it published through one of the society departments to gain wider recognition for it', but I could have been clearer about it.

[WindStruck]

I have homebrewed up a spell. Let me know if I should make any adjustments to it. :smallsmile:

[WindStruck]

Oh, I should probably roll, but I think this succeeds anyway.

Spellcraft: [roll0]

[DeTess]

I have homebrewed up a spell. Let me know if I should make any adjustments to it. :smallsmile:

Looks fine at first glance. Damage might need to drop a little I think to d4's for a 2nd level spell, but the rest checks out.

I presume you're heading out to the midnight guard compound next?

[MrAbdiel]

@mrabdiel, what were your plans for the tools?

There! Posted. Sorry for the slow response. I'm working and studying now so my time is shrinking but I'm still keen!

Aiden's plan is to try to convince the Archduchess to finance a project that includes work for Bolten and Shandara, and supplying him Adamantine tools. Everything dovetails nicely! Presuming she goes for it.

[WindStruck]

Looks fine at first glance. Damage might need to drop a little I think to d4's for a 2nd level spell, but the rest checks out.

I presume you're heading out to the midnight guard compound next?

Yeah, I'll see if Jay is around, or maybe I can just drop off a scroll for her to look at.

As for the damage numbers, yeaa maybe I could drop it, but I was also comparing it to stuff like scorching ray or flaming sphere. Compared to lightning bolt, much shorter line length and a possibility that not all the damage goes through.

It only really could do a huge amount of damage if a target chooses to let it, essentially. Though they will be prone as a tradeoff.

Not sure, should I bump up the maximum to 10d4/20d4? But we are still E6, so not like the caster level will ever reach that high.

[DeTess]

Yeah, I'll see if Jay is around, or maybe I can just drop off a scroll for her to look at.

As for the damage numbers, yeaa maybe I could drop it, but I was also comparing it to stuff like scorching ray or flaming sphere. Compared to lightning bolt, much shorter line length and a possibility that not all the damage goes through.

It only really could do a huge amount of damage if a target chooses to let it, essentially. Though they will be prone as a tradeoff.

Not sure, should I bump up the maximum to 10d4/20d4? But we are still E6, so not like the caster level will ever reach that high.

scorching ray ahs some other trade-offs though. Let's keep ti at d6's, but cap it at 8d6. probably won't matter that much in e6, but keeps it from being too strong compared to some other options.

[WindStruck]

Well I thought about it more, and given other utility (knocking prone, breaking barriers, pushing back) I think it is more fair to have 1d4 damage per caster level.

So anyway, I'll spend 150 GP to create two scrolls. And I'll take one copy of the scroll over to the Midnight Guard.

Edit: I like Aiden's proposal, by the way. It reminds me of those christmas trees you you set up and take down every year.. but oh, so much more grand and frivolous! :smalltongue:

[MrAbdiel]

Well I thought about it more, and given other utility (knocking prone, breaking barriers, pushing back) I think it is more fair to have 1d4 damage per caster level.

So anyway, I'll spend 150 GP to create two scrolls. And I'll take one copy of the scroll over to the Midnight Guard.

Edit: I like Aiden's proposal, by the way. It reminds me of those christmas trees you you set up and take down every year.. but oh, so much more grand and frivolous! :smalltongue:

Indeed! And it also throws a little more enchanting work Shandara’s way, and gives a compelling reason for Bolten to invent the Cogturner adamantine ringsaw, or something like it! :) and perhaps take our flimsy artisans on a dangerous field trip.

[WindStruck]

I think Bolten and Shandara have had enough for field trips, seeing as we went out on a "picnic" one day and nearly got eaten by a bear! :smalltongue:

As friendly and unassuming (or technically, making assumptions?) as Aiden is, I just hope he does not get into hot water effectively promising the expertise of others.

[DeTess]

Jay trying to get her head around the scroll: [roll0]

[WindStruck]

Sounds like she might have an idea of what the spell does.

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, your pricing for the parts looks fine.

[Prehysterical]

Yeah, Bolten has had enough of field trips for a bit, but I'm up for an opportunity for Bolten and Aiden to actually work together to combine their expertise. I feel like once Bolten gets to know Aiden (and become accustomed to his chaotic energy), he will be one of the more genuinely warm artificers that Bolten knows.

[DeTess]

Just letting you all know my health has been pretty bad again for the last few days. I'll try to catch back up again as soon as I feel a little better.

[WindStruck]

Again? Sorry to hear that.

I hope you can be nice and healthy again.

[DeTess]

Again? Sorry to hear that.


It's not so much 'again' as the same stuff that ahs been troubling me since september last year, it just gets better some times and worse other times, and this week is definitely worse.

[Prehysterical]

You take care of you. We are always happy to wait.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, I think we're mostly done for the day at the midnight guard offices?

@mrabdiel, what will you do next?

[WindStruck]

@windstruck, I think we're mostly done for the day at the midnight guard offices?

We probably are.

Not sure how far away MrAbdiel is on catching up in time with Aiden.. Shall I just have Shandara submit her report now? Maybe go to one of those famous publication offices?

[DeTess]

We probably are.

Not sure how far away MrAbdiel is on catching up in time with Aiden.. Shall I just have Shandara submit her report now? Maybe go to one of those famous publication offices?

Feel free to do so. If you want to go for some of the more famous publication offices, you know of the following:

Arcane: this is the big one. Research regarding all matter of arcane matters is published here, but there is a high bar of entry. They are published every 6 months.
Modern Enchantments: enchantment focussed magazine, nit as prestigious as Arcane and a lower bar for getting published. Published once every 3 months.
Planar Report: similar to modern Enchantments but focussed more on planar research.
Artifice inquirer: less prestigious than the previous 3, focussed more on making discoveries understandable and interesting for educated people outside the research community. Lower bar for entry though you'd need to rewrite portions of the report to fit their less formal style. Published biweekly.

[MrAbdiel]

@mrabdiel, what will you do next?

Wooo, I've just crawled out from under a pile of assessment and I am back to moderately normal freeness until... late september when there's the next wave!

Sorry for the delay. As for what I'm up to next, I believe delivering a rundown of the experimentation with the Tundra Oak (and informing Shandara that he has all but co-signed her to another job). I think I'm a couple of days ahead of Shandara's present timing, right? But after that, it's time to go home and bash out that harp and the scale model of the Legacy Tree.

[MrAbdiel]

Sorry for the quick copy+paste update:

This happened once before and you might remember it, but I have an annoying recurring issue with a disc in my neck that herniates and makes my life miserable. It's very bad for a couple of days and then pretty bad up and down for a few couple of weeks after that. I've been incapacitated for the first bit now I'm going through the next part again. It gives me numbness and pain in the right arm with escalates when I sit upright at my computer desk, so i have to budget my time sitting and typing and then laying down again. I started studying again this year so most of that slim budget has been going to work I have to do. I'm still keen and I'll be back but for the moment my posting will be infrequent at the very best. As a player i'm happy for my companions/GMs to puppet my character as required; as a storyteller I'm pretty much stuffed for the moment.

Sorry for the disruption, I'll be back at it when I can.

[DeTess]

Sorry for the quick copy+paste update:

This happened once before and you might remember it, but I have an annoying recurring issue with a disc in my neck that herniates and makes my life miserable. It's very bad for a couple of days and then pretty bad up and down for a few couple of weeks after that. I've been incapacitated for the first bit now I'm going through the next part again. It gives me numbness and pain in the right arm with escalates when I sit upright at my computer desk, so i have to budget my time sitting and typing and then laying down again. I started studying again this year so most of that slim budget has been going to work I have to do. I'm still keen and I'll be back but for the moment my posting will be infrequent at the very best. As a player i'm happy for my companions/GMs to puppet my character as required; as a storyteller I'm pretty much stuffed for the moment.

Sorry for the disruption, I'll be back at it when I can.

Oof, that sucks. I hope you get well soon!

[WindStruck]

Indeed!

My next post would involve Shandara going back to her home to twiddle her thumbs as she waited for Aiden to finish his experiments with the wood!

Now what am I going to do? :smallbiggrin:

[WindStruck]

What would you like to do in the meantime, DeTess?

I was thinking, I could have Shandara craft some jewelry while she is waiting for Aiden to finish up and meet with her again. This will skip some more in-game time. But it will not solve the problem of players being absent.

It might be time for me to do stuff solo for a time. Perhaps Shandara might wander to the Grand Plaza and browse other jobs and opportunities? Or do you have something else in mind? Could maybe explore the thing with Shandara being spied on. Or something else. I think she still had that chunk of spirit wood at home, and the small experiments she did yielded some information.

edit: currently leaning toward furthering her wand research, but I'm up for anything really.

[DeTess]

The wand research sounds fine. If you want to, I can cook up a wand related commission.

[WindStruck]

Possibly, though I think Shandara still does having limitations, not being able to cast level 2 spells herself. I know you've been letting me enchant stuff at a higher level than she can cast, though. But it does tend to use outside help I think?

Could be a wand commission, could be her simply trying to figure out how to utilize the spirit wood.

But I think the important thing is, it's something that will occupy more of our time in the real world. :smallsmile:

[DeTess]

@windstruck, the crown's gate guard precinct is located in the military district, not that far from the Ranger's guild. It is the headquarters of the city guard, and the divisions focussed on investigating crimes (rather than just patrolling and preventing crimes) are based there.

[WindStruck]

Okay. I guess the question is, should I just go now, or wait until the morning? :smallwink:

[DeTess]

Okay. I guess the question is, should I just go now, or wait until the morning? :smallwink:

That's up to you :P

[WindStruck]

I mean.. Shandara feels fine. It's still pretty early into her day.

[WindStruck]

I've been trying to search back in our threads from over a year ago.

How much was Shandara paying for that contract with the Midnight Guard?

And how much was that stipend she gets? Wasn't it something like 50 gp a week?

I really need to write this stuff down on my sheet...

Right now I'm going to spitball a price of 20 gp/day. 15 gp/day is apparently the usual price for the services of a Sage, somewhere in all the pathfinder goods and services pages.

So essentially, I'd think the going rate for her services would be a bit higher than that.

[DeTess]

stipend is 50 gp/week. your contract with the midnight guard is 300 gp/month.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, please roll me an appraise check with a +10 competency bonus.

[WindStruck]

Appraise: [roll0]
oops, +10 to that, so 26 total

And I think I need more text in my post...

So I'll say this! Thanks for coming up with a little solo plot for me. I hope the others are doing well and can return soon.

[WindStruck]

Interesting. I'll also try Spellcraft to see if I can gain any insight into how the spell might work?

[roll0]

[DeTess]

I've edited the IC spot slightly to better fit the explanation.

The spell doesn't do anything with the object you are trying to read. Instead, it enchants the user, for a moment improving their perceptive abilities and mental capacity and and grants them an intuitive understanding of a skill they normally wouldn't have. It's not entirely clear to Shandara why the spell improving the mental abilities that it does results in her being able to read these images form the object, though it does suggest it is possible to learn how to do this without magic.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, how versed would you say Shandara currently is in the field of Divination? The books you have are very advanced, but not unique. Copies of those works can be found in the artificery archives.

[WindStruck]

Well she is a generalist wizard... I wouldn't say she's more versed in divination than she would be in abjuration, conjuration, or some other spell school. But Shandara should be fairly gifted, regardless. Based on what you're telling me about the books, I would imagine that Shandara should be able to understand them, more or less.

[DeTess]

As far as I could find in my notes I never established a proper year number. If I did, do please point out where I did and I'll update the current post to match what I had already established.

For reference towards the given date, assuming I didn't establish anything else, it would currently be the 1041th year on the calendar.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, the wall seems to have an aura of illusion magic to it. I wonder why :P (technically that requires a roll to figure out I think, but it seems given context clues you'd figure this out pretty quickly).

[WindStruck]

That's fine. I wasn't very concerned about the wall.

I was just having Shandara cast detect magic prior to entering the room, to aid with observing whatever Whitecliff wants to demonstrate. Also, I may be keeping the spell up to be observing other things... :smallsmile:

(I'm interested in magic auras on other persons)

[WindStruck]

whitecliff's aura, arcana: [roll0]

spellcraft divination: [roll1]

spellcraft illusion: [roll2]

[DeTess]

On Whitecliff's aura, it is like nothing you've ever seen. it has some similarities to the aura elft by a divination effect, but it is less neatly structured, wilder, more 'primal' if you will. It also seems to be something coming from Whitecliff himself, rather than something that was cast on him.

The divination spell is pretty complicated. Two simultaneous effects analyze both targets for a massive amount of information (you couldn't really figure out what exactly based on a single viewing, but you get teh feeling it's not far short of everything. Certainly far too much information for a human to process themselves), then the two sets are compared, and if some amount of similarity is reached, one of the samples (in this case the vial of blood) will light up for a short while.

The illusion spell was silent image.

[Prehysterical]

So, yeah... It's been almost a whole month. I didn't mean to fall off the face of the Earth, but things kept competing for my attention like grant writing and coming to terms with the realization that I might need to move out-of-state again to be closer to my mother. That's not to say that I have had no time, but it has sapped me of my enthusiasm for writing (as you can see from my history log).

I'm trying to get back into things. Here is an Appraisal check for what Bolten would consider a fair price for the Imperial Records and Customs Office: [roll0]

How fitting...

[DeTess]

Would Bolten be more likely to under or to overvalue his work?

Also, IC response might be a couple days, as I've been sleeping quite poorly which means I'm not doing too well.

[WindStruck]

@Prehysterical nice to see you're still around. Hope you have more time and energy!

@DeTess oh no, no sleep? Nothing like pbp posting while you should be sleeping to make the problem worse! :smallbiggrin:

@MrAbdiel hope you're okay...

[MrAbdiel]

@MrAbdiel hope you're okay...

I am okay! Thank you so much. Feeling much better, and catching up everywhere.

I think Aiden is ready to check in with Shandara about the wood they're working with, whenever our timelines permit.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, there will be a small package arriving for Shandara the next morning with the documents you asked for.

@mrabdiel, good to hear you're doing better!

[DeTess]

@windstruck. There are two main tracks for entering the society.

The first is through the academy. There are entrance exams to demonstrate basic academic aptitude, then 5-8 ish years of studying and learning and if you complete your studies with a certain minimum grade you get invited to join the society if you want (not everyone does so, there are other positions available for graduates of the society's academy).

The second is for people with significant skills already. Those would have to pass an assessment consisting of interviews and a couple of tests of skill, generally involving completing selected commissions. Sponsorship by a member of the society can fasttrack the process, but is not necessary.

Sometimes someone outside the society displaying a great degree of skill could get invited in as well.

[Prehysterical]

Would Bolten be more likely to under or to overvalue his work?

Also, IC response might be a couple days, as I've been sleeping quite poorly which means I'm not doing too well.
From his perspective, he would undervalue his work since he would rather cheat himself than offend anyone by charging too much.

Hope you are feeling better.

[DeTess]

@prehsyterical, your estimate would then be that it's fair to ask about 1800 GP for the two machines they requested. After subtracting your material costs you'll be able to pocket 1200 GP

[WindStruck]

Would I need any rolls to determine how well Shandara can understand what is written in the book?

[DeTess]

Not really. this is high level stuff so you might need to refer to some other books as well, but assuming you're spending the rest of the evening on it you should be able to get a decent enough grasp at least.

edit: regarding your questions:

1. magi-babble Connection magi-babble inherent properties magi-babble shared 'soul' magi-babble spiritual DNA magi-babble (sorry). Essentially the spell performs a kind of scan on a fundamental level looking at the objects essence, and then compares the two essences to see if they're similar enough. If you were to specialize the spell you'd have to look at fewer variables to get a comparable essence (for example, imagine a spell that compares the DNA of two biological samples. it would work for blood and hairs and a person, but not for a piece of cloth and a torn garment. As it is the spell looks at DNA, and thread-count, and material, and the exact make-up of the metal it's made up of, and a number of different magical properties, and...).

2. the book does not answer this question, merely establishing that it happens and providing experimental proof of the rate. The writer theorizes the samples either start to decay or diverge tot eh point that after some time the connection no longer exists. The writer also theorizes different factors might be in play for different materials.

Detangling the spells is definitely possible, though it'll take a bit of effort. The spell as it is already fairly optimized (almost as far as it can be while still doing everything it does at once), so it'd take a bit of effort to detangle specific components form the entire weave and reassembling them back into a coherent spell. You reckon with a day or two you could reassemble it into more specialized 2nd level spells, and with significantly more time you could probably optimize those down to 1st level by really pruning anything unnecessary.

[WindStruck]

Yeah, I'll plan to spend the rest of the evening there, minus some breaks and such. Regarding the questions I had, is there any reason for the dropping off that Shandara can deduce, rather than, what is merely speculated or theorized in the book itself?

In addition to this research, yes, I think I'd plan to make some effort into detangling the spells, but since time seems to be of an issue, for now, won't optimize them further to try to get them down to level 1. After all, the job requested was some research delving into what may be possible, and the associated costs, but not like.. you know, an actual prototype.

Additionally, you mentioned Shandara would be receiving a package tomorrow from Whitecliff, which I think would hopefully do an even better job of explaining the spell, and I think at some point a written contract to sign as well?

[DeTess]

You can't deduce anything of the top of your head. It might also be that maybe, once separated, the two objects eventually become their own thing, but there's no way to tell what us right without some experimentation.

The package arriving the next morning actually contains both the contract, a copy of that book, and a slightly more detailed diagram of the spell.

[WindStruck]

Okay, think we should skip ahead to the next morning? Hm.. I need to see where Aiden is at time wise.

[WindStruck]

Okay, I've reviewed the activity for Aiden and Shandara. Our characters had last met at the Grand Plaza and been helped by a glass enchanter, regarding resist energy (sonic). Since then...

Aiden
1st day: researching Archduchess Vilfaren and asking ship workers about Tundra Oak.
midnight he works at the Granite Street Workshop
2nd day: napping till afternoon. Gives Tree proposal to Vilfaren Estate

Shandara
1st evening: Shandara researches resist energy (sonic), and proofreading her paper
2nd day/evening: researching getting a protective field to expand or change properties, creates a wooden disk prototype that resists fire temporarily
3rd day/evening: visiting Jay with SSS, then submitted her report, then got her commission from the CGGP.


So I believe I have spent three days on Shandara, and Aiden has only spent two days since we last met. I'm thinking, maybe Aiden could spend his third day on the harp and on his little tree prototype, and we'd be synced up again?

[DeTess]

Okay, I've reviewed the activity for Aiden and Shandara. Our characters had last met at the Grand Plaza and been helped by a glass enchanter, regarding resist energy (sonic). Since then...

Aiden
1st day: researching Archduchess Vilfaren and asking ship workers about Tundra Oak.
midnight he works at the Granite Street Workshop
2nd day: napping till afternoon. Gives Tree proposal to Vilfaren Estate

Shandara
1st evening: Shandara researches resist energy (sonic), and proofreading her paper
2nd day/evening: researching getting a protective field to expand or change properties, creates a wooden disk prototype that resists fire temporarily
3rd day/evening: visiting Jay with SSS, then submitted her report, then got her commission from the CGGP.


So I believe I have spent three days on Shandara, and Aiden has only spent two days since we last met. I'm thinking, maybe Aiden could spend his third day on the harp and on his little tree prototype, and we'd be synced up again?

That sounds fine to me.

[MrAbdiel]

Sounds good!

[WindStruck]

Do you want to RP that or... just kinda gloss over it and we meet up? Hm. I guess Shandara could share the results of what she has found so far, as could Aiden about the Tundra Oak and what happens when you steam it or soak it in warm water?

[MrAbdiel]

Let's do it! I can post a little later, setting it up as if Aiden has yet again invited himself over to ramble.

[WindStruck]

Sounds good to me! Shandara will probably be having some "breakfast" at the time.

She'd have received a package and be poring over some other book or contract when Aiden comes, I imagine. But sure, you post first. :smallsmile:

[DeTess]

Regarding freezing the wood, you would need a magical means, just a cold box lined with ice won't do it. The one helping Aiden used a cantrip level spell specifically made for freezing objects at close range, but a ray of frost should work well enough for small parts.

[WindStruck]

Would I be able to find someone in the city that already has a spell to freeze an object uniformly? ...like the cantrip you just mentioned?

[WindStruck]

I'll also have Shandara roll knowledge local (or nobility?) for what Archduchess Aiden is talking about. I think you've already put an info dump on her and her family somewhere though...

[roll0]

[DeTess]

Would I be able to find someone in the city that already has a spell to freeze an object uniformly? ...like the cantrip you just mentioned?

Are you looking for someone to aid in the process, or do you simply want to learn the spell? In the latter case it can be found in the archives quite easily, in the former case it might take a bit of effort to find someone with the time to help you.

General info on the Archduchess and her family: https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25823105&postcount=44

[WindStruck]

I guess it'll be simple enough to just do a bit of research. As it is a cantrip, I am sure it can be found with little time.

[WindStruck]

Are we done with the scene at Shandara's house?

[MrAbdiel]

Hooray, I'm done with study for the semester!

And I think we're done with Shandara's house scene. Aiden has to

1. Finish the harp and present his model and the harp to the Archduchess for consideration.
2. See if he can't schmooze some borrowed tools for use with superhard woods from the fellas at the drydock who have been so helpful, and whom Aiden has probably chatted the ears off from last time.

The first will take a week (and change) of work. The second is probably just a couple hours walking and talking.

If they are able to supply high quality tools that approach the effectiveness of the adamantine ones, even for part of the job, Aiden will pause the harp to get some elements of the ranger's violin done so Shandara can get enchanting it. So that's mostly up to your timing, DeTess. Did you want to play out Aiden's shipwright schmoozing, or just roll it?

[DeTess]

I'm fine with just a roll.

[MrAbdiel]

Well, this is pretty important, so I'll sink my once-per-day luck +8 into it! [roll0] for diplomacy. Unless they're happy to offer aid in exchange for a jaunty tune, in which case my +2 Masterwork instrument will also kick in!

[DeTess]

The tools they have are a bit too expensive to just give away, but they're willing to let you borrow a set from a colleague of theirs who is recuperating from illness. You can borrow the tools for two weeks, but they ask if you could take the time to play once or twice at a small plaza in the city. The colleague in question lives in one of the houses around it and they hope the music will help him recover.

[MrAbdiel]

Perfect. Aiden loves playing music as favours! For the first time since he's arrived in the city, there will be a little wooden sign resting up against the railing where he normally plays in the morning at the society campus with a woodburned message: "Playing at a new location today; back tomorrow." And that, next to the board he always has up explaining that donations go to the Stormdrains Recovery Project, and a little wooden box in case anyone is generous enough to still give. He'll set that up in the morning, go play for the injured man, snag the tools on the way home, and throw himself at getting the violin started. If he can, he'll meet the injured shipwright, talk his ear off about the hobby project he has going with the lads at his shop, and hit him with the ol' Cure Light Wounds if applicable to his condition.

Kind of a lot of errands, but

Day 1: Finish "Legacy Tree" Model, Negotiate with shipwrights, put in a 1/2 Day on the Harp (Model complete, Harp at 68.5/1000)
Day 2: Play at Injured Fellow Plaza, Pick Up Tools, put in 1/2 Day on the Violin, check in with Shandara re: Ice Magic for the Tundra Oak
Day 3: Full Day on Violin (hopefully creating enough of the pieces that need no curvature that Shandara can start laying enchantment foundation upon)
Day 4: Drop off those elements with Shandara, Play again at Injured Fellow Plaza, put in a 1/2 Day on the violin.

Then we'll see how we've progressed. At some point Shandara is likely to have to visit Aiden's shop to help with the shaping of the curved elements of the instrument, which will be fun.

[WindStruck]

Okay, I think Shandara's "Day 1" would be going to the archives to look up the spells mentioned (freezing object spell, and plant preservation spell) and copying them to her spellbook, and going to cut some suitable gems for the violin. This does probably include needing to go out and buy two suitable gems to cut, so I guess that's actually what she does first while most business are still open...

Ah so let's see.
1) buy gems/supplies
2) go to archives and copy spells
3) cut gems.

Would this all take one day or would I need two for the gems, given how long high value items generally take to take?

[DeTess]

Okay, I think Shandara's "Day 1" would be going to the archives to look up the spells mentioned (freezing object spell, and plant preservation spell) and copying them to her spellbook, and going to cut some suitable gems for the violin. This does probably include needing to go out and buy two suitable gems to cut, so I guess that's actually what she does first while most business are still open...

Ah so let's see.
1) buy gems/supplies
2) go to archives and copy spells
3) cut gems.

Would this all take one day or would I need two for the gems, given how long high value items generally take to take?

preparing the gems would take more time, yeah. So you'd be doen with those around halfway through day 3 or so on this schedule.

[WindStruck]

preparing the gems would take more time, yeah. So you'd be done with those around halfway through day 3 or so on this schedule.

I guess that's fair enough. So then I guess you'll have me make some rolls, right? I have two spells (magecraft and crafter's fortune) that would help.

And anything to RP, or will we just speed through this?

[DeTess]

Yes, I think it's fine to just cover these days with just a couple rolls for you and @mrabdiel.

[WindStruck]

Okay. I'm only really expecting a bit of trouble with the plant spell because I think the scope we need is far more than just preserving a single flower. I imagine a "gentle repose for plants" might be easy to find but only for very small volumes, so it may take some modification to be suitable for Aiden's idea.

Spellcraft with investigative mind:

[roll0] or [roll1]

And then for the gem cutting: [roll2] using both crafting buffs.

What will be the total cost for the gems and scribing these spells, by the way?

[MrAbdiel]

Okilly Dokilly. Let's see about this business.

Day 1's all complete.
Day 2: Perform at Injured Fellow Plaza - (+2 Masterwork, +1 Songbird, +8 Inexplicable Luck) [roll0]
Hope he likes it, poor lad.

Now, the 1/2 Day on the Violin. I'll use Shandara's Crafter's Fortune on this one; Inexplicable Luck is the greater bonus but it just feels exploitative to hit that button every time, plus I like the idea of the first input on this work being Shandara-assisted.

It requires 1000SP of progress to complete a masterwork instrument. The DC is normally 20, but I typically crank it up to just to finish the project quicker. The material isn't unfamiliar exactly anymore, but I'll leave the DC up to you DeTess. [roll1].

Progress will be (Result)*DC, finally divided by 14 (because it's a half day rather than a week) of progress in SP.

Day 3: Full day on the violin. Using Inexplicable Luck this time. [roll2]. (Total gain: Result*DC/7)

Day 4: Half day on the violin. Using Inexplicable Luck this time. [roll3]. (Total gain: Result*DC/14) I'll take 10 to play at the Plaza this time.

And then.. assess progress.

EDIT: Dang. Nice probust success on the first roll, but then a natural 5 and 1 on the next efforts. Inexplicable Luck has saved Aiden from screwing up the project entirely, I think.

[WindStruck]

So, end of day 3 (for Shandara) maybe I'll swing by the archives and see if she has been approved to take a look at that forbidden book? :smallyuk:

[DeTess]

@windstruck, you can find a spell like gentle repose but for plants without too much difficulty, finding both details for the spell as well as ways to enchant objects to apply the effect (such as a vase that casts it on its contents). However, all applications you can find are for relatively small bundles of plants, such as bouquets of flowers. Applying it to something as big as a tree is probably not impossible, but will require significantly more power, which means you'll likely have to design an enchantment to handle it, as casting it yourself will be beyond your ability.

The gem was for holding power to expand the field right? Let's say it's 500 gp int otal to cut and enchant it for holding and releasing te energy.

Also, yes, when you check in at the end of day 3 your application ahs been processed and you can read the book at the archives.


The book starts by giving an overview of what the author refers to as 'psychic abilities', which appears to be a range of abilities to read impressions and imprints left by emotions and events on people and the environment, but which seems to extend also to the ability to read minds and even get glimpses of possible future. The author explains that it is possible for most people to train themselves to obtain one of these abilities, but that doing so is a harsh and difficult process, and that acquiring such abilities can be very dangerous, as you can't get rid of the ability again once you have gained it this way, which will result in significant mental strain with a risk of insanity.

The author then refers back to past research that determined the exact ways the brains and essences of people having acquired these abilities have altered, and proposes that it would be safer to use spells to temporarily and reversibly mimic these alterations. The work than focusses on working out this idea, describing several spells to temporarily gain one of these psychic abilities, including the ability to read the past of objects, or see the aura's of people to determine their emotions or capabilities. The book also describes ways to use this method for limited insights in the future or reading the thoughts of someone else, but notes that both spells are roughly equal to 'traditional' methods of getting similar effects using arcane magic.


@mrabdiel, let's set the base DC at 25, as working with the tundra oak is still trickier than with normal wood, though you do have better grasp of its properties now.

[MrAbdiel]

Awesome. Then.. rounding down to coppers...

Day 2 is worth 78.5
Day 3 is worth 125
Day 4 is worth 55.3

So we're at 258.8/1000!

Now that I have a measure of this wood, (more or less, not enough to take 10!), I'll probably accelerate the DC to 35. It's not a sure thing but I can't fail it by the 5 or more that would damage the materials. Or not mechanically; I would expect a DM to pounce on a natural 1 when someone is being so hasty! But Aiden has a lot of plates spinning, he has to try to finish some of them!

Am I good to do another 3 days on it?

[WindStruck]

Regarding the gentle repose spell, can it not be applied individually to the chunks that Aiden wanted to cut up? Not like, to the whole tree, which is probably still technically alive?

[DeTess]

Hmmm, yeah, you could do that with the spell as is, but it'd need a lot of castings to cover everything then (around 20 or so).

[WindStruck]

Right. So I suppose we could plan to make a wand. And if the spell is simple enough, Shandara wouldn't even have to be the one to do all the work...

Maybe a rich noble could commission that? :smallwink:

So in that case, I guess I'm done with that subject, until it's confirmed that Aiden's idea is accepted.

[DeTess]

Am I good to do another 3 days on it?

That should be fine, I think.

[MrAbdiel]

Alright. Aiden is hurling himself at this one, hammer and tongs.

Or Fiddle and Saw, I guess.

Day 5: Full day on the Violin. [roll0]
Day 6: Full day on the Violin. [roll1]
Day 7: Half day on the Violin, half day playing and Injured Fellow Plaza. [roll2]

All chasing DC 35.

Edit:

(39*35)7= 195
(40*35)7= 200
(45*35)14= 112.5

So by the end of day 7, we're up to 766.3/1000; three quarters of the way there and no disasters so far. Another couple of day should finish it off, with 5 to spare before I have to return the tools.

[MrAbdiel]

Just for the sake of efficiency, I'll bang through days 8 and 9 here to see if the project completes or if there's a hiccup; but feel free to nix my rolls if you have something you intend to drop in to complicate matters, DeTess.

Day 8: Full day! [roll0] || (42*35)/7 = 210 (986.3/1000) ;-;
Day 9: Full day! [roll1] || (44*35)/7 = 220 (1206.3/1000)

Masterwork Tundra Oak Violin is fully completed and functional on day 9, probably by about 10AM. Rest of that time spend workin' on the boat with m'boys.

Chasing 35's. And in case either fails and a 10th is needed:

Day 10: Full day! [roll2] Though it breaks my heart to discard a natural 20 on a craft roll, it is not required and I can't just bank it. Off to the void you go, fair 50.

[DeTess]

Provided you prepare everything in advance you'd need about half a day's help from Shandara for shaping the curved parts.

@prehysterical, I think we're done with your current scene. What will you do next?

[WindStruck]

Wow, Aiden would actually finish the tundra oak violin without having to go through some convoluted scheme to be bequeathed some tools indefinitely? :smallbiggrin:

Well, nice job!

Last we were speaking here, Shandara was only at like, day 3, now you're up to 9... I've still got the other job she commissioned to do, so.. hm. Doesn't seem like I get much useful information out of "Adaptations of psychic abilities using Arcane principles" (though it is interesting).

However, I did have an idea of someplace to get started. And this idea involves divination and time. So we know using either psychic abilities or divination to peer into the future is sketchy at best. It's all probably most accurate and useful in the here and now. But, if we were somehow able to peer into the past.. well, at least the past is immutable and already written.

So my idea is this: take a sample ripped cloth from something bigger. Cast a spell on it, which "follows" this object through the past, up until we reach the point where it was part of something bigger. Then, follow that bigger object back through the past and up to the present.

Not exactly sure how to tackle going about this, but I guess I'll spend three days researching each of the following subjects:

Traditional divination methods: [roll0] or [roll1]

Use of "time" to attempt to peer into the past: [roll2] or [roll3]

Extending the range of a locate object spell: [roll4] or [roll5]

These are arcana rolls. And I'm up to day 6 now.

[DeTess]

What exactly are you hoping to find/learn with the first roll?

Regarding looking into time, it seems peering into the past is quite tricky using traditional divination magic. You find some spells capable of doing so, but they are very short duration (less than a minute), and can only go a short distance back in time (no more than a day or two, three at most), require you to be at the location you want to view, and can't be cast repeatedly at the same location (you generally have to wait about a day, something about 'temporal currents needing to stabilize'). In other words, you need to have the 'when' right in a single go.

The object reading spell you experience before could be closer to what you need, but as you experienced before, there are issue with processing the information. If you could either 'record' the spell's entire output so you can look through it in detail afterwards, or enhance your own processing abilities to better parse the results of the spell that could be promising though, and your research does find some avenues to do either of those. You reckon you could also try removing some of the limiters on the spell, as it is currently designed to only give you the ability for a really short moment, ad it wouldn't take much in the way of energy to keep it up longer. The book did state that the short duration was intentional to avoid overloading the one using the spell, so there could be serious risks to that though. There also remains the question of 'jumping the tracks' to the larger object, which you're not quite sure how to do given your limited knowledge on the abilities. If you could speak to someone with the actual psychic ability, they might be able to help you with that, or the Steiner papers might contain clues to this as well.

For extending the range of locate objects, you find ways to do so, but anything more than double the range gets rapidly beyond the abilities of most mages. It should be noted that the spell has a duration in the minutes, so if you could figure out a way to rapidly move the sensor there might be ways to extend the total area covered that way.

[WindStruck]

So when I was asking about traditional divination methods, I was just wondering if there was something already buried in the archives that might be helpful. Like, I'm not expecting something that exists that solves the problem, but maybe there is a spell out there that has some key component Shandara is looking for. Something like a building block, or a foundation Shandara could build on top of or modify.

Right, so as for the fourth day, I think Shandara would want to look into temporarily creating some sort of intelligences. Seeing as the psychic spells have so much sensory data and information that would overwhelm the caster, I think it might be an interesting approach to temporarily create an intelligence that (for the most part) simply just filters out all unnecessary information and focuses on one thing. I think rudimentary intelligences already sort of exist, something like the unseen servant spell. By utilizing something like this, then the limiters to the psychic spells could be removed, and all the information could be forwarded to the thing instead. While we can remove absolute limits to the spell, we still can probably slow it down a bit to make it easier to process.

So, right. Creating a helper intelligence: [roll0] or [roll1]

Hm. Not great. I feel I'm stuck between failure, or creating something that will one day become SkyNet and end the world.

[DeTess]

So when I was asking about traditional divination methods, I was just wondering if there was something already buried in the archives that might be helpful. Like, I'm not expecting something that exists that solves the problem, but maybe there is a spell out there that has some key component Shandara is looking for. Something like a building block, or a foundation Shandara could build on top of or modify.


You don't really find anything along the lines of what you'd been thinking off, though you did do a lot of reading up on all kinds of divination related techniques as well as other things related tot racking and the mind (not really much immediately useful results for that day, but you had a good roll which will help in case you run into some trouble... oh look at that :P)



Right, so as for the fourth day, I think Shandara would want to look into temporarily creating some sort of intelligences. Seeing as the psychic spells have so much sensory data and information that would overwhelm the caster, I think it might be an interesting approach to temporarily create an intelligence that (for the most part) simply just filters out all unnecessary information and focuses on one thing. I think rudimentary intelligences already sort of exist, something like the unseen servant spell. By utilizing something like this, then the limiters to the psychic spells could be removed, and all the information could be forwarded to the thing instead. While we can remove absolute limits to the spell, we still can probably slow it down a bit to make it easier to process.

So, right. Creating a helper intelligence: [roll0] or [roll1]

Hm. Not great. I feel I'm stuck between failure, or creating something that will one day become SkyNet and end the world.

So, the issue you run into with trying to figure out how to create intelligences is that most stuff like unseen servants and the like are very simply menial-task oriented creatures, and for what you need you need something capable of far more cerebral tasks. You find a couple cases were smarter intelligences were used in magical constructs and the like but these intelligences were always summoned, rather than created, involving he binding of extraplanar entities like fey, demons or elementals.

In your earlier research you had found some information on how to use a familiar to extend one's senses, and you reckon it might be possible to have your familiar help you in this matter, though you would have to be careful with how much load you put on them. You'd also encountered some research on storing memories in psionic crystals which could be of use as a capture medium for the information, allowing you more time to sift through it all.

[WindStruck]

Okay, if I'm understanding this correctly, arcane divination magics usually have that time limit on them, but the psychic abilities/magics not so much?

So I have an idea now, to remove the time limiters on the psychic spells but place another limitation such that the information received comes at a much slower frequency, and with the addition to prematurely block out similar sensations/readings after getting one bit of information.

So for instance, taking the ripped piece of cloth example again: let's say the spell can store a queue of a number of certain sensations or bits of information. It only feeds one such thing to the caster per round. After receiving that bit of information, the caster can choose to block other information types of that sort (for example sound, emotion, scent). And as a swift action once per round, the caster can choose to stop blocking one of those categories.

Hope that makes sense. Going about it another way: in the original spells Whitecliff made, it seems you just get a whole burst of all sorts of things at once, but then it only lasts for a very short amount of time. In the modifications Shandara makes, all the sensations are saved up but then only given to the caster once per round in chronological order (if it's a tie, it's randomly). Then with the option to block certain things, the caster is able to focus more on what they find pertinent and cut out on the noise.

So day 5 I guess. Which will be a spellcraft this time I think. [roll0] or [roll1]

I don't know. I might go back to Whitecliff himself to get some advice on this. Because I think it feels promising. Should be on "Day 8" currently, and trying to see Whitecliff would be "Day 9" and caught up with Aiden again?

[MrAbdiel]

Shandara can come visit Aiden's shop in the wee hours of the morning of day 7 or 8, to do the icy-hot wood warping. Then he could drop it over on day 9 with all the settings and channels cut into the violin for her enchantments, and then it'll be... done, I reckon?

That owl better not mess with my rats.

[DeTess]

Yeah, the divination spells seem to be brute force looking back into the past, which brings limits, while the psychic ones are more subtle but have the other limits you encountered.

You can certainly design the spell you described, though you'll need more time to finish it. Also, Aiden will need your help at some point in those 9 days, but you could make that the morning of day 9.

[WindStruck]

Alright, morning of Day 9 is actually afternoon for Shandara. If that's okay?

[MrAbdiel]

Works for me. Want me to set up a short scene, just to get us back into the RP of it?

[WindStruck]

Sure, set up away!

[WindStruck]

Perception: [roll0]

So I guess Shandara sees the mice. That's a nice image you have there as well.

[WindStruck]

The gem just needs power. I'm not sure if Shandara can simply put some into it, or if she'll need to set up a special ritual or get some outside help. But I think I'm delivering it unpowered. Gimmick with this violin is, it can expend the energy in the gem once to cover a larger area and affect multiple people. But only that one time, then it has to be charged up again. Just like that sword she made, which contained spells to banish one of those deathless kings.

It should still be fine to slot into the gold fittings and violin though.

Do we need to make any final rolls to make sure everything has gone according to plan? There should be certain markings on the violin, which Shandara will finish up. IF everything is done correctly, she would only need to insert the right ingredients and apply a bit of power to get the enchantments going? But I would also think not only do all the potential runes need to be formed and aligned correctly, but all the interconnected parts of the violin should fit together (as it is all essentially one interconnected unit).

Awaiting DeTess's opinion on how close we are to just saying the dang thing is done! :smallbiggrin:

[DeTess]

You'd need to do a bit more to place all the other enchantments, but iirc at this point it is just execution based on the planning Shandara did a while back, so you should be able to finish up this morning. Shandara would do the actual enchanting, but Aiden could help with making inlays for any runes and the like.

[Prehysterical]

Provided you prepare everything in advance you'd need about half a day's help from Shandara for shaping the curved parts.

@prehysterical, I think we're done with your current scene. What will you do next?
Sorry, been a weird week. Before I decide, can Bolten go ahead and put the funds into his account?

[DeTess]

Sorry, been a weird week. Before I decide, can Bolten go ahead and put the funds into his account?

Yes, they decide quickly and you get contacted the next morning that they want to move ahead with your design as discussed, including payment. You would need to spend a bit of time making the second model afterwards of course.

[WindStruck]

How far is it from Aiden's home/workshop to the crown's gate guard precinct?

[DeTess]

How far is it from Aiden's home/workshop to the crown's gate guard precinct?

Let me just consult the city map that I totally actually have :P

Some distance actually. Aiden lives in one of the outlying poorer parts of the city, and the military district is near the city center. Maybe an hour on foot?

[WindStruck]

Oh. I was just wondering if it was too late to try to find Whitecliff and consult him on what she was working on. Maybe it's too late.

Or maybe we could flag down a taxi carriage or something.. :smallsmile:

[DeTess]

Oh. I was just wondering if it was too late to try to find Whitecliff and consult him on what she was working on. Maybe it's too late.

Or maybe we could flag down a taxi carriage or something.. :smallsmile:

You would have to leave the current district to find one, but you could definitely flag one down (would cost a couple silvers and bring the time down to about 35 minutes al told). Also, based on your last visit, he seems to work till quite late in the evening, so chances are good he'll still be there.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, the spell isn't yet at the prototype stage. You have detailed notes on how it should be able to work and are about halfway done working out the actual spell part, but you're still missing some details.

[WindStruck]

Okay. I guess that's fair.

Now I'm just waiting to see if I'll have a little chat with Whitecliff or not...

[DeTess]

@windstruck, Would it be correct to say that, right now, Shandara is a less wary of Whitecliff, given that he's been surprisingly reasonable during this discussion?

If so, could you give me the cliff notes on some kind of serious trauma Shandara suffered in the past, maybe something that happened before surfacing?

Also, you've read some stuff about storing memories, which you might be be to apply to your approach. Let the informations till come as quickly as usual, but then store it so you can then look through them slowly without needing to keep the psychic ability up. Or you could try to add in buffs to mental ability to more easily parse the rush of information during the short window. The first would require an additional tool to function as storage medium, the second one would have less complete results.

[WindStruck]

That's probably true. You could say that Shandara might actually like Whitecliff. :smalltongue: At least for now... no telling when his subtle needling about homework will get to her, or what else he might pull later though.

As for serious trauma? Hmm... I have at least three options, which I think were written in Shandara's backstory...

1) Mother attacking her
2) Father being taken as a sacrifice
3) The school incident where she was kicked out.

But I think Whitecliff's condescending little remarks on homework would make #3 more likely to be detected. Think of it like one of those nasty shows where people are confronted with ridiculous challenges and end up dying. Squid Game or Hunger Games might be similar, but I think the situation might not come up all the time, and it was more like "think your way out of this situation" rather than make everyone fight each other to survive.

Homework. Homework...

Shandara remembered actually doing 'homework' at home: studying borrowed volumes which her family was too poor and not prestigious enough to own.. memorizing many facts, some trivial and forgotten, others the foundation from which her magic knowledge was built upon. She remembered many grueling hours spent sitting at their table, often times alone. Sometimes with the wafting smell of cooking she was doing in the mean time, or interrupted by several other ... 'chores' she needed to take care of. Sometimes her mother hovering over her, offering her 'encouragements'. Sometimes her brother returning from a shift, wearily looking her way and avoiding interacting with her.

All this, of course, not only to learn but to prove herself at the Lhalabar Academy, to one day become a prominent mage herself and perhaps take on a similar role passing her knowledge on to others (for exorbitant fees) or in the service of a House. Shandara's work was not only diligent, but more than satisfactory. It was a great example of what a star student could achieve. Except, Shandara herself was not a star in any drow sense of the word. She was small, and frail, and weak, and quiet, quieter than she is now. Because her work was good, other jealous students began to notice. Her belongings went missing several times. She was bullied, and tripped, threatened, ganged up on. She didn't offer any resistance or malice back. They laughed at her and threatened to come to her home and slit her throat in the night.

Shandara was often met by these bullies, extorting answers from her, essentially getting her to do the work for them. She tried to hide this from her mother and brother, simply as.. acquaintances, peers to help each other study. But her professors and the headmaster wouldn't be fooled forever. One day Vierna Lhalabar, the headmistress of the academy herself, burst into their class for an important announcement. This cheating had been going on long enough, with almost everyone in the class having practically identical answers. She was immediately thrown under the bus, and then having come forward, tried to explain how she was threatened and coerced into providing others with information. The headmistress was enraged at this, but most of the ire was directed at Shandara.

Slapped around and beaten again, Shandara was rebuked as too weak, a disgrace, unfit to serve any house. Vierna Lhalabar would not have the reputation of her academy tarnished, and so expelled Shandara then and there. For all the bullies, they merely got a slap on the wrist, and business and learning (and brutal deaths) would continue as usual. For Shandara, however, she was humiliated, laughed at as one of the few who actually got expelled, and the headmistress, who also happened to belong to the clergy of Lloth, threatened to sacrifice the young drow should she ever see her again. So Shandara ran. She bolted out the door, leaving all her things behind. Her feet echoed through the silent academy halls, as she was overcome with panic. Bursting out onto the streets, she began to realize the implications of everything that happened: how everything her parents and family had worked so hard for, the planning so that she might one day achieve something came apart. She had utterly failed. Tears began to stream down her eyes as she hurried back home...

If I'm allowed to get another day of research in tonight, I'll try to explore the 'storing memories' avenue.

Probably no investigative mind this time. [roll0]

[MrAbdiel]

Taking all my willpower not to read that spoiler.

[Prehysterical]

I guess we can say that Bolten will get straight to work on the second one, then.

That would also serve as an excellent buffer time for all of us to meet up in a scene later. I'm happy to wait until Aiden and Shandara are done with their bit, but I've Bolten has been pretty antisocial for a group game. It would do some good (and get me more honest about keeping up with the game) for the three of them to be together, even if it is not working together on a project.

[WindStruck]

How about an alternate scene that takes place at a different time and place where all three of us can meet, while other stuff is still simultaneously going on? :smallsmile:

[WindStruck]

Just a note. I'm not sure if this is relevant. But that cliffsnotes thing you wanted wouldn't have been on Shandara's surface thoughts. I can only assume Whitecliff was actually trying to pry into someplace he shouldn't have, so, uh.. enjoy the bad memories!

[DeTess]

Just a note. I'm not sure if this is relevant. But that cliffsnotes thing you wanted wouldn't have been on Shandara's surface thoughts. I can only assume Whitecliff was actually trying to pry into someplace he shouldn't have, so, uh.. enjoy the bad memories!

Yeah, I know. The mechanisms involved are less about reading your mind and more similar to the object reading spell you encountered before, where it grabs things that have left deep impressions. Als, before this sudden reaction you didn't pick up on him actively doing anything except discussion those matters with you (remember him repeatedly talking about the problem with gaining a sense that you can't then get rid off :P).

[WindStruck]

Yeah, I know there's a big problem with the psychic effects being unintentional, but if you can just pick up a traumatic memory from the past.. one that's not even being thought about, oh boy. That will be very rough to deal with day to day...

[DeTess]

@windstruck, Whitecliff's lab(and various other facilities such as the precincts interrogation rooms and prison) is in the basement, it's where you currently are. Stairs go up and down, but the steps seemed to go up.

You remember that the higher areas are a bit mazelike though, and Whitecliff both knows the area and has a headstart.

If you do want to follow, can you roll me a perception?

[WindStruck]

perception: [roll0]

[MrAbdiel]

Hmm. Maybe Bolten and Aiden can meet up for a pint/tea so Aiden can try to sell him helping with his art project. Or better yet, perhaps we can set it up like it's meant to be a meetup for the three of them, and Shandara can join when Windstruck finishes her present quest and she can snap forward in the timeline to join us. What do you think, Prehysterical?

[DeTess]

[roll0]


@windstruck, if that's not a 4, could you roll me another perception check?

[WindStruck]

hmm okay. :smallconfused:

[roll0]

Remember, dark vision if it helps. And unfortunately, I don't think Elu is close enough for a further bonus for dark environments.

[DeTess]

[roll0]
[roll1]

[WindStruck]

So.. are there multiple rooms or doors to this storage room now? Or are you saying the door to the archives is being opened?

I'm rather lost here, so would you describe where Shandara is and what she is seeing?

[Prehysterical]

Hmm. Maybe Bolten and Aiden can meet up for a pint/tea so Aiden can try to sell him helping with his art project. Or better yet, perhaps we can set it up like it's meant to be a meetup for the three of them, and Shandara can join when Windstruck finishes her present quest and she can snap forward in the timeline to join us. What do you think, Prehysterical?
Either one works for me, really.

[DeTess]

So.. are there multiple rooms or doors to this storage room now? Or are you saying the door to the archives is being opened?

I'm rather lost here, so would you describe where Shandara is and what she is seeing?

Okay, so there's Four doors, two on each side. 2 storage rooms, 2 archives. You opened a door to a storage room and are looking inside, maybe thinking of going on, maybe not. Then you heard a noice from behind one of the other three doors.

Does that make sense?

[DeTess]

[roll0]

tenmorecharacters

[DeTess]

@windstruck, what is Shandara's current mental state, specifically where Whitecliff is concerned?

[WindStruck]

Probably confused and worried?

[Prehysterical]

I'll get Bolten's response up tomorrow night. The winter program we are running right now has me tired.

[DeTess]

Today I learned gitp has a swear filter XD

[DeTess]

Oof, now I feel sorry for doing all that to Shandara XD

Is there anything else you wanted to do this night?

[WindStruck]

Well the night is still young so to speak. Shandara can probably squeeze in a bit more research.

For now, why don't we work on the financial analysis of the report she was making?

She can probably compile some numbers from her own records and experience, or take yet another trip to the archives?

Appraise: [roll0] or [roll1]

arcana: [roll2]

[WindStruck]

Wow, am I getting cursed again or what?

Well, at least we could say recent events have probably distracted Shandara... and maybe the arcana part can prop up a kind of bad appraise roll.

[DeTess]

Wow, am I getting cursed again or what?

Well, at least we could say recent events have probably distracted Shandara... and maybe the arcana part can prop up a kind of bad appraise roll.

Would Shandara be more likely to over or underestimate the costs?

[WindStruck]

Hm. Maybe over-estimate. Considering she likely does think highly of her work, and also, I bet it's not like people usually give her good deals?

Edit: Oh, I think I need to clarify what the rolls were for.

So the Captain Tar wanted to not only know if such forensic magic was possible, but also have an idea of how long it would take to develop, and how many resources it would take to actually research the magic and have it useable in some fashion by his street level cops.

Shandara is attempting to estimate those prices now. So there's several items here:

- ballpark estimate on research time (in manhours, or perhaps weeks or months), if such a feat is even feasible
- another ballpark estimate on the total costs on the research alone, and a list of some certain rare items or.. people with certain qualities
- and then, if such spells were possible to develop based on the above research, the estimated cost for a wand, scroll, or recharging wand (like the ones she tried out in the lab)

[DeTess]

Okay, let's see. Based on how far you've judged your research has gone, developing and optimizing the spell you have been working on would take maybe 3-4 more weeks. You still have some obstacles though (especially in the safety department for the user), and you'd either need Whitecliff's full cooperation, or full access to the Steiner papers to clear those (or you could put yourself at risk or do some highly unethical human experimentation). Getting access to those papers would be a hassle, but wouldn't be too costly, though you'd need the captain's cooperation.

Now, as for costs for wands, it depends on how far you can optimize the spell (in other words, how small a spell slot can you fit it in). 3rd level would be very doable, which would run around 5.5 k per wand in material costs, but you could more than halve those costs if you could bring it down to a 2nd level slot. You can't really judge if that is feasible at this point though.

[WindStruck]

Okay. Well I think that wraps up that night, and now Aiden is probably done piecing together the whole violin.. He would be bringing that over so Shandara can finish applying all the enchantments.

Does Aiden want to RP another visit, or have we been there and done that?

[WindStruck]

Hm. At this rate, maybe skip any RP interaction and assume Shandara takes the day to finish enchanting the violin. Will that take the whole day?

[DeTess]

Let's say it takes about 2/3s of a day. does not leave you with much time for other projects, but does give you a bit of free time for a social visit if you want to.

You also receive a letter the next day (see the IC thread).

[WindStruck]

Well.. a social interaction would be difficult with Prehysterical and MrAbdiel seemingly MIA.. could just be holidays too. But yeah.

So I guess the plan is, finish up the violin, go visit Gerard Oakhome, and then present that violin to the bard at the ranger's guild the next "day" (afternoon) with Aiden?

[DeTess]

Sounds like a plan!

[WindStruck]

Oh, right. How do I go about charging the gem on the violin? You know, for the spell that is supposed to extend the protection from various elements to nearby party members? I think it's just sonic, lightning, and acid, seeing as the tundra oak itself is resistant to ice and fire.

[DeTess]

Oh, right. How do I go about charging the gem on the violin? You know, for the spell that is supposed to extend the protection from various elements to nearby party members? I think it's just sonic, lightning, and acid, seeing as the tundra oak itself is resistant to ice and fire.

You can just put some magical energy in it (aka spell slots and the like). In character it's a bit like channeling magic to cast a spell, but you don't shape it like you would with a spell, instead pushing it to the gem. The enchantment on the gem will do the rest.

[WindStruck]

Okay. Well. She should have some leftover energy in the day to do that before she goes to sleep I think.

[DeTess]

Merry christmas everyone!

[WindStruck]

You too!

https://foxillinois.com/resources/media2/16x9/full/1024/center/80/084fd508-fa1b-46a7-b06e-32692ac9c3ce-large16x9_SANTA_2021_SANTA_TW.jpg

[MrAbdiel]

Merry Christmas to you both! Sorry for my MIA. Windstruck's seen my excuse in two other threads, but you deserve an apology too, DeTess:

All I can do is apologize again. I appreciate your toleration, guys. My excuse is lame - I sort of found myself the Admin for the Discord of Lava Lash, the main RP server in the current Season of Discovery expansion of WoW. I thought we'd get like 40 members and then I'd give it up and merge it with someone else's discord; but somehow there's like 600 people in there now and I'm anxious about trying to make it.. accommodating and helpful, and it stole much of my attention, and made it easy to rationalize neglecting my posts here. Sorry.

Not sure about Prehysterical, though he doesn't strike me as a flaker, and his last posts mentioned the winter program he's been involved in running, so I expect he's just snowed in, so to speak.

[Prehysterical]

Yeah, between the winter program and visiting family out-of-state over the holidays, December was a very busy month for me. I wanted to give all of my attention to my mom and my siblings during the limited time that we had together. (It's a ten-hour drive for me to visit them, so I effectively spend two days of vacation just driving by myself.)

I certainly hope that the holidays were as kind to you as they were to me. I can also sympathize with the "suffering from success", MrAbdiel. *lol* Christmas on the Prairie was a major success and we received visits from schools that we normally never see. With it being a free program, of course we get swamped, but it gives the poorer schools a chance to participate.

I'm still in catch-up mode from the holidays at both work and my online gaming. I'll see if I can get a reply up tonight, but I make no promises. I can promise a reply within the next few days at the latest.

Thank you all for being patient and Happy New Year!

[DeTess]

@windstruck, what do you want to do next?

[WindStruck]

Sorry I haven't been around the site lately. Hmm.

We should be delivering that enchanted violin now, but I think MrAbdiel may be absent again.

I guess I'll just keep working on this research/report plot, and maybe if or when MrAbdiel shows up we can have RP it out in some sort of timeline that makes sense.

I think there's one day of research left for Shandara.

[DeTess]

Sounds about right. And I'll obviously massage the timeline around a bit once they're back to make everything fit.

@prehysterical, not entirely sure if you're around, but if you are, want me to set up something for you untill mrabdiel is back?

[Prehysterical]

I'm not going to criticize, since I haven't really been around myself.

I glossed over his post a while back, but haven't examined the whole thing in detail. Let me answer that and we can go from there.

[MrAbdiel]

Sorry I haven't been around the site lately. Hmm.

We should be delivering that enchanted violin now, but I think MrAbdiel may be absent again.

I guess I'll just keep working on this research/report plot, and maybe if or when MrAbdiel shows up we can have RP it out in some sort of timeline that makes sense.

I think there's one day of research left for Shandara.

I'm here! I've just been having hell getting the website to work for the last week or two. Lots of pages failing to load, hanging for minutes at a time, dumping posts. The forum staff are apparently aware of it; I have no idea if it's a server thing or what, but it was pretty widespread. Seems to be working now, though!

[DeTess]

I'm here! I've just been having hell getting the website to work for the last week or two. Lots of pages failing to load, hanging for minutes at a time, dumping posts. The forum staff are apparently aware of it; I have no idea if it's a server thing or what, but it was pretty widespread. Seems to be working now, though!

I had similar issues, with the website occasionally super slow. Seems fine now though.

I don't think Aiden has looked into how the long range transport is going to work yet, had he?

Also:

The spectre of that melancholy thought blunders into his mind for a second before it is snatched by the shoulders and dragged into the back alleys of his cognition for a good thrashing. Sad thoughts did not long survive, in the mind of Aiden Sorveaux. All is well, in that place. No hint of sadness even makes it to his eyes.


I'm going to need to start working on a therapist npc for Aiden, aren't I?

[MrAbdiel]

I had similar issues, with the website occasionally super slow. Seems fine now though.

I don't think Aiden has looked into how the long range transport is going to work yet, had he?

He has not! He put that speculation in his initial draft and submitted it right away because of fear of running out of time. Wisdom 8!




Also:


I'm going to need to start working on a therapist npc for Aiden, aren't I?

Whatever do you mean? :D

Actually, it occured to me after I posted that, that Aiden DOES know an artist - the curly haired halfling who drafted the logo for the Saw and Fiddle! To whom he promised to appear at a party for a bunch of artists to play music for them, pending more information! I think that just sort of slipped through in the light of other projects but that might crop up at some point also!

EDIT: But Therapy RP would be sort of amusing for Aiden.

[WindStruck]

Okay here's for the writing down copious amounts of data idea: spellcraft [roll0]

And here's for the illusions idea. Going to use investigative mind on this one.

[roll1] or [roll2]


Speaking of which, I completely forgot about libraries granting bonuses. Probably for a long while. These are just the values listed on Shandara's sheet.

[DeTess]

No issues recording it all. For the illusion idea you would need some medium to hold the info untill the illusions are done. This is far from impossible but does mean you need a special (reuseable)focus crystal that would cost about 500gp.

[WindStruck]

No issues recording it all. For the illusion idea you would need some medium to hold the info untill the illusions are done. This is far from impossible but does mean you need a special (reuseable)focus crystal that would cost about 500gp.

Okay. I guess that's going into the report as well.

What is your take on the illusion idea by the way? Might it actually be a useful thing to reenact a scene or maybe view an object's past for a bit?

[DeTess]

Oh, yes, I think it's definitely useful!

[MrAbdiel]

Sorry I haven't been around the site lately. Hmm.

We should be delivering that enchanted violin now, but I think MrAbdiel may be absent again.

I guess I'll just keep working on this research/report plot, and maybe if or when MrAbdiel shows up we can have RP it out in some sort of timeline that makes sense.

I think there's one day of research left for Shandara.

Oh, and yes I agree, I think we're done! All the mechanical rolls and stuff are done; Aiden may spend an hour or two tuning it now that it's all done. But we're ready to turn it in and split the reward!

[DeTess]

Do you want me to set up the scene for delivering the violin?

[MrAbdiel]

I think so. Bolten is looped in on Aiden's wild ambition for now, and after he shares his wisdom or lack thereof about portal magic, they'll probably finish their tea and wander off to their own projects. Perhaps after that, Aiden will meet with Shandara to deliver the violin.

[DeTess]

Alright, set the scene up to keep things rolling. Don't worry if you still want to post some things to round off the other scene.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, wrong ooc chat :P

The budget was 12,500 gp. I could have sworn you guys had done a full breakdown on costs involved, but can't find it. If either of you can find it that's fine, otherwise, based on what I could find, you made about 6500 gp of costs for materials, and could pocket however much you charge over that as reward.

Edit: marked price down as I found some more info in the old ooc thread

[WindStruck]

Oh wrong thread? Ooops!

Well anyway. When we craft items in d&d, usually it's like, "pay half the cost of the item" to make the item, so generally speaking, I think if we spent 6500 gp, then the violin would probably be marketed at 13,000?

It's probably fair to ask for 12,000 gp then I guess.

[MrAbdiel]

Sounds good to me.

To Aiden, who has very little sense for haggling at all... It also sounds good, and would have if you had named almost any number.

[WindStruck]

Regarding split payments. We might quibble about hours spent or material costs (or at least Shandara anyway).

But I think we can maybe look at it this way.. we should both be profiting by an equal amount. Example: if Shandara had to pay 6000 gp in magical materials, and Aiden had to pay 500 gp in terms of the wood (doubt that) and renting the tools (also I think this was free or inexpensive), then in this example, Shandara gets reinbursed the 6000 gp, and Aiden gets reinbursed the 500 gp. So they're pretty much even and we've covered the base material cost. Then, if we let the violin go for 12,000 gp,

12000
-6500
5500

Divide that final figure by two, getting 2750 gp. To simplify things, this is how much we add to our bank account balances.

However, just pointing out, that by the above example using material costs, it technically means Shandara is paid 8750 gp, and Aiden is paid 3250 gp. So I think it's accurate for RP reasons Shandara gets paid more. But to be fair, we both profit the same amount: 2750 gp.

Sound gucci?

[MrAbdiel]

Regarding split payments. We might quibble about hours spent or material costs (or at least Shandara anyway).

But I think we can maybe look at it this way.. we should both be profiting by an equal amount. Example: if Shandara had to pay 6000 gp in magical materials, and Aiden had to pay 500 gp in terms of the wood (doubt that) and renting the tools (also I think this was free or inexpensive), then in this example, Shandara gets reinbursed the 6000 gp, and Aiden gets reinbursed the 500 gp. So they're pretty much even and we've covered the base material cost. Then, if we let the violin go for 12,000 gp,

12000
-6500
5500

Divide that final figure by two, getting 2750 gp. To simplify things, this is how much we add to our bank account balances.

However, just pointing out, that by the above example using material costs, it technically means Shandara is paid 8750 gp, and Aiden is paid 3250 gp. So I think it's accurate for RP reasons Shandara gets paid more. But to be fair, we both profit the same amount: 2750 gp.

Sound gucci?

Hahah,yeah, that's alright. I assumed cost of materials would be subtracted before we split the rest. For a second, I thought Shandara was going to try a "well, magic is much harder than woodworking so perhaps 60/40..." ;)

[DeTess]

The letters of credit cover the divison of costs as mentioned above. You can have them added to your account if you have one, or turned into gold at any of the banks in the city.

[DeTess]

@windstruck, for other people you might know that could help out, you remember a guy called Zacharias (former PC, but obviously still exists as an NPC) who somehow managed to brew a drink containing memories, so especially the psychic approaches might be right up his alley.

Otherwise, you know of an elf who has been working in the field of divination called Arud Erna. He has done some work with various banks designing tracking and marking spells for high-value objects, but you've heard he's been working in other fields as well, and seems pretty knowledgeable, form what you've heard and read. He's a friend of Fenlho though (and therefore very much not one of Shandara), but surely such personal grievances won't stop Shandara from suggesting him, right? :P

@windstruck @mrabdiel, regarding the spiritwood, I don't mind there being an IC conflict over it, but please do talk it out OOC if there's an actual disagreement between the two of you over it, rather than just an IC squabble.

[WindStruck]

Hopefully there's not an actual hard disagreement over the spirit wood. I'll just point out that:

1) I'm actually planning to do something with it next, and don't have other plans...

2) Shandara is the one who paid for it.

3) There was no actual agreement, verbal or otherwise, to share it.

4) We can probably expect more spirit wood arriving sometime later in game time.. though in pbp a few months could be years in real life. :smallsigh:


edit: yeah, I am rather confused by this whole notion of, "I own it," said so confidently. This is said by the guy who only had 100/800 gp to buy it, not even counting expense of the other wood he was interested in buying. He offered that he could try to get a loan, but again, nothing was ever concretely agreed upon. The wood seller never agreed to hold the wood, nor sell it on promise of a loan, nor say explicitly he was selling to Aiden.

Either way: I'm all for experimenting with the wood (again, this is what I am about to do now that other plots are resolved). I'm all for keeping Aiden in the loop and involved. But I do want control/ownership of it because what I want to do primarily is attempt to make wands out of it, not cups, flutes, and drum sticks.

[MrAbdiel]

Hopefully there's not an actual hard disagreement over the spirit wood. I'll just point out that:

1) I'm actually planning to do something with it next, and don't have other plans...

2) Shandara is the one who paid for it.

3) There was no actual agreement, verbal or otherwise, to share it.

4) We can probably expect more spirit wood arriving sometime later in game time.. though in pbp a few months could be years in real life. :smallsigh:


edit: yeah, I am rather confused by this whole notion of, "I own it," said so confidently. This is said by the guy who only had 100/800 gp to buy it, not even counting expense of the other wood he was interested in buying. He offered that he could try to get a loan, but again, nothing was ever concretely agreed upon. The wood seller never agreed to hold the wood, nor sell it on promise of a loan, nor say explicitly he was selling to Aiden.

Either way: I'm all for experimenting with the wood (again, this is what I am about to do now that other plots are resolved). I'm all for keeping Aiden in the loop and involved. But I do want control/ownership of it because what I want to do primarily is attempt to make wands out of it, not cups, flutes, and drum sticks.

It’s possible we have an OOC disagreement about that scene, but we don’t have a squabble, that’s for sure. We’re cool.

I read and reread the old posts to be sure, because I know I took it OOC as a loan Aiden would pay back. That’s why he says he owns it - on the basis that Shandara was loaning him the money for the purchase, not leaning in to swipe the sale from under him.

Furthermore, I think that was probably understood at the time of the post. Aiden asks for time to get a loan, Shandara says she’ll cover it and whatever Aiden wants, he thanks her profusely and says he’s good for the money. She doesn’t reply directly, but you did post her immediate thought following - “He’d better pay me back.”

If she’s decided after the fact to change the conditions of that arrangement, because she sees more value in the purchased object than the loan, she’s sharking him. I can’t see anything that changes that fact. She might feel justified in doing so, and may have convinced herself after the fact that it was her purchase with Aiden running alongside; but the written reality of the scene was that he needed a loan, she covered the loan, and she ruminated on her expectation for him to pay her back.

The legal reality is that she put down the money and, after she told Aiden to leave it with her, it’s in her house. Even if Aiden was litigious it would be hard to get around that. Perhaps he could drag master Dunfen in as a witness, but it’s shaky.

But with that concession, Aiden isn’t upset at the prospect of losing the nifty wood as much as he sees Shandara going back on their agreement; and Aiden doesn’t really have many gears to deal with what feels like an (admittedly mild) betrayal of trust.

If Shandara remains convinced she is the owner of the wood, that there was no loan stated or implied, and that Aiden has no grounds to expect any part of it at all, he can’t really do anything about that. He’ll just be hurt.