The Royal Artificery Society - OOC

[DeTess]

I'm not ending the Dukkear scene here quite yet, but I am setting up the new commissions and the like for the new players already. Hope that wasn't too confusing.

[MrAbdiel]

Hello fellow craftspeople! Delighted to be here. I'll probably try to get a post out tomorrow, and when I do, I suppose I'll speak in... oh, let's say, a nice, saddle brown. Do all members of the society use the communal dorms until they're permitted to make an alternate arrangement? One of the things Aiden would want to do right away is start using his downtime to build his own workshop, but I imagine that it might be pretty competitive for space.

[DeTess]

Hello fellow craftspeople! Delighted to be here. I'll probably try to get a post out tomorrow, and when I do, I suppose I'll speak in... oh, let's say, a nice, saddle brown. Do all members of the society use the communal dorms until they're permitted to make an alternate arrangement? One of the things Aiden would want to do right away is start using his downtime to build his own workshop, but I imagine that it might be pretty competitive for space.

Yes, there are communal dorms and workshops that you can use, but those often aren't quite as nice as your own place, and the workshops can get quite busy at times. Space is at a premium, but it depends on how close to the campus you want to be. The further away you go, the easier (and cheaper) it is to get your onw place.

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, could you roll me a perform (you can take 10 instead if you wish)? I know you said it was mostly for the fun of it, but this is the kind of thing that can also grow one's reputation, good or bad.

[WindStruck]

Hello, and welcome!

As a reminder, yes, you do start off with a considerable chunk of money. I think some of us had started off with a purchase of our own workshop/residence. You could totally have done that if you want.

Anyway, looking forward to you being here, MrAbdiel.. expecting nothing but the best, seeing how you are doing with your warcraft M&M game.

[Prehysterical]

Welcome to the Society, Mr. Abdiel! Been many years since I made it down to Brisbane.

I can understand the appeal of your character making his own workshop. What you could do to get the best of both worlds is have building that workshop be part of your backstory. You would spend only half the amount on materials, have it ready to go for the game, and you don't have to juggle that project's downtime with getting your own space. Having your own dedicated workspace would also save you from having to rent warehouse space or work around scheduling in the Society member workshop spaces. That would also also leave you with more starting money in case you need to buy materials to start a major project or are saving up for something special of your own. (Me, I'm having to save money because of the massive investment it takes to craft any kind of construct.)

[MrAbdiel]

Hello, and welcome!

As a reminder, yes, you do start off with a considerable chunk of money. I think some of us had started off with a purchase of our own workshop/residence. You could totally have done that if you want.

Anyway, looking forward to you being here, MrAbdiel.. expecting nothing but the best, seeing how you are doing with your warcraft M&M game.

Thanks! :) Seeing this IC thread bounce up and down with your username on it was the major reason I decided to overcome my Pathfinder aversion and check it out! So, you know, right back at you!

Welcome to the Society, Mr. Abdiel! Been many years since I made it down to Brisbane.

I can understand the appeal of your character making his own workshop. What you could do to get the best of both worlds is have building that workshop be part of your backstory. You would spend only half the amount on materials, have it ready to go for the game, and you don't have to juggle that project's downtime with getting your own space. Having your own dedicated workspace would also save you from having to rent warehouse space or work around scheduling in the Society member workshop spaces. That would also also leave you with more starting money in case you need to buy materials to start a major project or are saving up for something special of your own. (Me, I'm having to save money because of the massive investment it takes to craft any kind of construct.)

Thanks! I expect Brisbane hasn’t changed much since you were last here - though with the Olympics now on our horizon, we’ll go as mad as any other city with harebrained expansion projects. Pity us, oh traveller!

That’s a neat plan for the house, but I both like the idea of exposing this character to frustrations of the daily grind (so he can thwart that frustration with his impenetrable good nature) and I might save for a good “spot” very close to campus. I guess I need to look at a pricing catalogue for the land!

@mrabdiel, could you roll me a perform (you can take 10 instead if you wish)? I know you said it was mostly for the fun of it, but this is the kind of thing that can also grow one's reputation, good or bad.

Ooo. I’ve been bitten by perform checks before, so I SHOULD take 10…

Ah, who am I kidding? I’m not here to not roll dice. The worst I can get is a 16, so here we go:

(1d20+15)[25].

Edit: Quibbles then rolls a 10 anyway. Now that’s just good writing. :)

[WindStruck]

Oh nice, a "memorable performance"! You've actually got a pretty decent perform check, and can pull those off all the time by taking ten.

Well I will tell you one thing. That means Shandara would certainly be remembering Aiden. If she's ever come across him playing. But that must be the case.

Well anyway, as DeTess said, our PCs would still sort of know each other. How much and to what degree would be up for us to decide.

[MrAbdiel]

Oh nice, a "memorable performance"! You've actually got a pretty decent perform check, and can pull those off all the time by taking ten.

Well I will tell you one thing. That means Shandara would certainly be remembering Aiden. If she's ever come across him playing. But that must be the case.

Well anyway, as DeTess said, our PCs would still sort of know each other. How much and to what degree would be up for us to decide.

Well, since I just got here, it’d work well for me if Aiden had been a little aloof for his tenure so far - not antisocial, but prone to unremarkable carpentry projects that don’t really exploit the power of the Society until he starts branching out just now. Perhaps she’s seen this unusually content, fiddle playing human serenading the artisans a few times, and they’ve exchanged names and greetings, but they’ve had no cause to work together. The IC getting-to-know-you, when it comes, will help me grasp the other characters as well as flesh out my own. Works for you?

[WindStruck]

Yes, it would make sense if they have briefly exchanged names and greetings - and that's all. That's perfectly fine.

Just a bit of warning, it does seem Shandara and Bolten will be wrapped up in their own little project for a while. Maybe even two projects. One of these is even related to spooky Underdark intrigues!

I'm saying this now because it may be unlikely that we work together on much right away. And, if I'm honest, I would probably have some of my own character's goals and be picky. It's not one of those games where all the PCs stick together constantly and all share the same goal. It's very diverse and sandboxy, and I like it that way.

So I don't mean to be pushing you (or anyone else) away. When or if we do ever end up sharing a goal or a project, it should be fun, though.

[Prehysterical]

Should we just go ahead and proceed past the dinner with Dukkear? If Windstruck wants to do a little RP, that's fine, but I feel like most of the conversation is going to be "classified". It would also let us get cracking on this literal monster of a project.

[DeTess]

@prehysterical, @windstruck, If both of you want to skip past the dinner once Shandara's last question is answered, that's fine.

@mrabdiel, I assume it's fine to introduce you to the granary at a later point that day when next I post, or was there anything else you wanted to do first besides playing great music?

[MrAbdiel]

@prehysterical, @windstruck, If both of you want to skip past the dinner once Shandara's last question is answered, that's fine.

@mrabdiel, I assume it's fine to introduce you to the granary at a later point that day when next I post, or was there anything else you wanted to do first besides playing great music?

That's the main thing - he'd like to see the area and walk around it before putting together his prototype. But if before that he can talk to a realter about buying the right to build somethere near (or affordably far) from the campus, that'd fill his morning out! But in the interest of keeping things moving, I'm happy for that to be super abstract.

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel,

You find (10d12)[79] copper coins and (5d6)[19] silver coins in your instrument's case after your performance is done.

[DeTess]

@prehsyterical, @ windstruck, so did you want to skip over the rest of the dinner, or play it out further? Either is fine with me, but I would like to know which direction to take it.

@mrabdiel, regarding making your own place, you can use the following price lists for furnishing specific rooms and the like: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemasteri...oms-and-teams/

Buying the location to fit all this in will cost between 1000 and 5000 gold pieces or thereabout, more if you want a big place in a prime location. If you just want a workshop and don't mind it being a decent walk from the heart of the campus that'd only be a 1000Gp (plus costs for outfitting the place), but if you also want living space attached to it you'd soon be looking at around 2000GP (plus cost for outfitting the workshop), and if you want it to be in a good location (useful if you also want the place to be a store to sell things from) that'd add 1-2k gold more.

[WindStruck]

Those rats sound scary! I think they would be a very interesting subject of study...

Not sure what I want to do about the dinner. Guess I don't mind skipping over the dinner.. There's not too much Shandara would want to pry about, or reveal about herself. Feels like small talk might be oddly nonexistent or unproductive as well.

If you can think of some interesting stuff to do or say I don't mind.

I guess a question is, when we skip ahead, where/when do we end up next?

[DeTess]

Those rats sound scary! I think they would be a very interesting subject of study...

I guess a question is, when we skip ahead, where/when do we end up next?

Skipping ahead would just be to the next morning/afternoon (or to directly after the dinner if you and Bolten want to start working immediately). I don't really have anything else planned for the dinner at the moment.

[Prehysterical]

Those rats sound scary! I think they would be a very interesting subject of study...

"Yes-yes, silly elf-thing, we have much-much to teach you. Please, step-scurry into dark, shadowy alley here..."

Bolten would be so wound up that he would want to immediately start drawing up the plans after dinner. Shandara could either be there to bounce ideas off of or she could go home while Bolten figures out the initial mechanical design and they hash out the magical details later. Whatever works.

[WindStruck]

Yeah, Shandara can go with Bolten in the evening. I'm sure she'd be up far later than him..

[MrAbdiel]

Spoiler: Operation: Rat-Splat - Info Desired!

Show

There's no good way to set a trap for rats like this without knowing what makes them so amazingly special, but Aiden can do some prelim work while he's here. He wants to know...

1. The area of the facility he is ratproofing, specifically the radius from the middlemost point, for the purpose of gaging the range of any broadcast effect he might employ.
2. The height of the tallest structure.
3. If the problem is bad enough that the rats are scumming about in daylight like they own the place.

The next step is to figure this rat nonsense out, and and that'll require a specialist. Aiden is going to look to hire someone - probably a young, affordable ranger - to skulk about the granary to get info on the rats. They'll need to be knowledgeable about vermin, able to sneak, and able to converse with animals (thus a ranger is ideal!). If the ranger can just interrogate a rat to find out its weird secrets, that's even better; but even if they come back with a report that the rats seem normal, that's atleast one approach to information gathering Aiden will know won't work.

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel

1. You could fit all storage facilities into a 100 foot radius dome.
2. The silos are the tallest structures around, at about 50 feet high.
3. Roll me a perception check please.

Regarding the person you want to hire, how do you wish to go about finding them? Do you want to put a notice out on the various market and notice boards throughout town (will definitely get you someone, will cost you a handful of silver pieces (let's say 12 all told) and might take a day or two to bear fruit), do you want to track down a suitable guild to contact them (knowledge(local) roll then, if you please), or do you have some other cunning plan?

[MrAbdiel]

Let’s go with the notice board plan; Aiden isn’t a man prone to hurry and he supports the independent contractors!

[DeTess]

Could you roll me that perception check as well? And could you include the text for your notice either in your next IC post (after I describe anything else you notice about the place), or in the OOC thread?

[MrAbdiel]

Sure! Perception - (1d20-1)[8]. He's, ah... Well, there's a reason he's outsourcing the observation stuff!

Spoiler: Ranger/Druid Help Wanted!

Show

Ranger/Druid Help Wanted!

An artificer and pest control contractor requires help finding humane solutions to a problem with urban wildlife. Specifically, I need someone who can devote a few nights to discretely observing vermin that are exhibiting unusual behaviours. The job is not dangerous, just specialized. The successful applicant will have:

- Good attention to detail
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Self-starter
- The ability to talk to rats, either by use of a spell or other reliable means
- Knowledge about the habits of rats and urban vermin
- Patience
- Good communication skills
- Talent for avoiding the detection of the aforementioned vermin
- Freedom to work nights

Desirable, but not essential factors include:

- No need to sleep
- Perfect vision at night
- An animal companion; owl or similar

Contact Aiden Sorveaux, at the Royal Artificer Society Campus. Job has an immediate start. Pays in good silver!

On each of the dozen or so of these postings Aiden has fixed to job boards, he includes a silver piece delicately held to the paper by three stitches of thread, as if to demonstrate how real the reward is. This, of course, is remarkably foolish; and each of those 'example' coins is likely to be vanished by opportunists long before anyone reads the advertisement in full!

[DeTess]

@mrabdiel, It'll be (1d3)[3] days before someone drops by in reaction to your notice. If you've got extensive plans to fill in that time I'm happy to play it out, if you're just planning on spending some time doing some preliminary research in the archives or something like that and want to quickly skip over it, that's fine with me too.

[WindStruck]

Hey MrAbdiel. I think you may have forgot to mention in your advertisement that this job is an entry level position. And it requires at least 5+ years of experience working with rats.

[Prehysterical]

Okay, the nat 20's on the Crafting rolls are starting to get ridiculous...

Speaking of constructs, I had an idea for how to finally get Bolten's clockwork familiar into the picture. DeTess, the goliath spirits that inhabit the animal automatons... Any chance we could arrange so that one of those ancestral spirits becomes Bolten's familiar? I had the idea for the familiar to be a clockwork armadillo, anyway, so it fits thematically and explains why it has a personality.

[WindStruck]

I'm not sure how to help Bolten here. I could maybe try to "aid another", though I think I'd actually need at least a rank in craft (clockwork) right? But then again, even Bolten could hire out an unskilled laborer, which would also grant a +2 bonus.

But Shandara also still has some knowledge rolls, she could also cast crafter's fortune on herself or bolten, and she also has magecraft (personal).

In any case, it's obvious Shandara would be helping in some capacity, but I'm just not sure how to go about it mechanically.

[DeTess]

Speaking of constructs, I had an idea for how to finally get Bolten's clockwork familiar into the picture. DeTess, the goliath spirits that inhabit the animal automatons... Any chance we could arrange so that one of those ancestral spirits becomes Bolten's familiar? I had the idea for the familiar to be a clockwork armadillo, anyway, so it fits thematically and explains why it has a personality.

Could be a possibility, you'd have to discuss that with them though

In any case, it's obvious Shandara would be helping in some capacity, but I'm just not sure how to go about it mechanically.

The idea was that you'd add your magical expertise to the project, right? Maybe roll a spellcraft, and I'll base an ad-hoc bonus on your roll.

Edit: also, @prehysterical, @windstruck, could you give me a run-down of all the features and things you want to include in both projects?

[WindStruck]

I'd consider Prehysterical as the lead design here.

But I guess from what I understand, it's going to be some thing that fits on his back via a harness. I imagine it has 4 climbing legs and 2 pinchers (which also can help climb but also attack) and apparently a tail now that shoots a grappling hook. Why not load poison in it for good measure too?

Not sure what Bolten would have had in mind. I was thinking the legs/arms were kind of noodly and flexible machine parts, not sure how exactly they move. Clockwork, hydraulics? I'm thinking the inspiration was definitely making it look like Doctor Octopus, though. It's supposed to have a mental control thing like how Bolten made the legs for that one noble, and also a manual control? Or was it just that Dukkear didn't want the machine running off on its own without his input? I would have thought mental control would be fine. Guess it's unclear.

One idea I had in mind was that for all the tips of the legs, or anything we'd plan to contact stone, like the grappling hook or even the pinchers, we could coat the tips in adamantine and also put a very tiny silence effect on them. So that way, not only could they dig into rock easily, but it would not make a sound!

Well, that's my brainstorming for now... and a spellcraft roll!

(1d20+16)[17]