The Royal Artificery Society - OOC

[DeTess]

random roll: (1d20+10)[29]

[WindStruck]

Not sure if it will help, but Shandara could offer a Resistance cantrip, which will last the first minute or so of testing. But chances are if Bolten already has a resistance item, I'd bet Dukkear does as well.

Now, I really forget how the device is actually powered.. I know there's a steam engine of sorts, and Shandara has at least managed to get it a constant supply of water, but as for the actual source of power, I am drawing a blank.. probably because I should be going to sleep, and not staying up.

Maybe I will dig through all our post histories tomorrow!

[WindStruck]

How have your holidays been? Busy? Hope you all had a pleasant time!

[MrAbdiel]

Perfectly idle, as holidays should be. :) Hope yours treated you well too.

[Prehysterical]

Holidays have been nice, but been distracted the last few days. We traded in our phones and my mother lost years of text message history from my late father, so I have been trying to console her and work with tech support. I might be able to get something up this weekend, but don't be surprised if it takes until next week.

[WindStruck]

How long ago did they trade phones? I mean.. they probably still physically have the old phone somewhere, don't they??

[DeTess]

My holidays have been fine as well, health feels like it might be getting a bit better, maybe.

And I hope they're able to recover those messages, prehysterical. Those are bound to still be available somewhere, right?

[Prehysterical]

We traded the phones just after Christmas. We kept the old phone, so we were able to recover the messages (thank God). Our problem was that the backed up messages only went back to this past September. My brother used to work in electronic retail, so we were able to work with her, but you can't exactly tell a grieving widow that she just needs to be patient... doubly so if she is your mother.

I will get a post up shortly.

[MrAbdiel]

Glad you had even that much success, Prehysterical. What an awful situation.

[Prehysterical]

Bolten will Take 10 on Appraise for a roll of 22 to set a reasonable price.

[WindStruck]

Hm. I have some ranks in appraise too but idk. I think we should be able to tell, based on the cost of materials used and how much time we spent working on it?

I think our characters would have a far better idea of what to expect, rather than us. No clue how much these gizmos should be costing.

[DeTess]

The material cost was paid for in advance, so it's really your time and genius you'd be putting a price on, which is difficult to quantify. Given the nature of the work you know that anything less than 6000 gp total would be grossly underselling your work, and going over 20000 gp would be grossly overselling it. Where exactly you fall in that range would depend on how your characters value their skills and how well you can sell it.

[WindStruck]

Hm. I guess I could try starting high.

[DeTess]

Do you want to hash out the finer details in character, or round off the scene here, and quickly check OOC that we're all in agreement about what the further support will mean?

[WindStruck]

Well at this rate, it'll probably really drag out trying to hash out all these details. Especially considering how much the game has slowed down...

[DeTess]

Well at this rate, it'll probably really drag out trying to hash out all these details. Especially considering how much the game has slowed down...

Yeah, sorry about the slow-down. I've been feeling better recently, so I should be able to start posting a bit more frequently again.

[Prehysterical]

Yeah, round off the scene here. I'm sure MrAbdiel has been dying.

I mean, the terms of the agreement are something that can be done retroactively since they aren't that important in the immediate future.

[WindStruck]

Alright, so in terms of hashing out the details of "technical support" I have in mind a number of example scenarios...

1) Say for instance, the Ironmonger Clan runs into a small problem with the design, or some unforseen obstacle that they need to overcome. We can draw up some design modifications to them and send it to them, to build at their leisure.

2) Or suppose they lose their schematics somehow. We can send them the replacement documents. If their engineers or artificers don't understand something, we of course are also available to answer questions.

3) Now maintenance may be a big one. Aside from simply casting mending spells, but there may be small components that need replacement or magic enchantments that need refreshing. We can advise how to do that.

4) Defects. If there is any sort of design defect with the SCORP or spybug, we need to fix/update it free of charge. Any flaw in the workmanship of the current model we made ourselves is the same thing, but if Clan Ironmonger makes their own, of course they take responsibility for their own workmanship.

5) Major modifications: if any major modifications are required for the SCORP, they can send it back, explaining what exactly the issue is, we'll see if we can come up with a solution. We will send the modified SCORP and schematics back, if possible, and the clan pays only for the additional material/transportation costs.

6) And basically being available to address any other concerns or queries.

7) And lets throw in settling any disputes with a 3rd party arbitrator for the lulz.

Hmm, not sure what else. Any other ideas?

That's somewhat of the gist of it, and it already feels a bit complex.

[DeTess]

That seems to cover most of it. In practice, I expect these obligations to come up either if a bit of time needs to be filled, or under entry 5 as an interesting new challenge.

[MrAbdiel]

Yeah, round off the scene here. I'm sure MrAbdiel has been dying.

I mean, the terms of the agreement are something that can be done retroactively since they aren't that important in the immediate future.

*Sound of rodent hoedown record scratches to a halt.*

I'm here! Still invested, just patient! You guys have a big complicated project and it deserved some long scenes to flesh it out. I'm alright!

*Hoedown resumes.*

[Prehysterical]

That all seems reasonable. I do agree that a third-party arbitrator sounds like a good idea, though I'm not sure how that will work given the sensitive nature of the project...

If Aiden's mice prove able to learn crafts, Bolten might just hire some on for the larger clockwork projects. When you're so small and nimble and your fingers are tiny enough to reach between the cogs, that can be very useful!

[WindStruck]

So, um, how do we want to proceed? Shall we just tidy up the agreements at the bathhouses, make the final touches (shock absorption system is all, if I recall correctly) at our workshops, and consider the whole affair wrapped up?

And then, after that.. we'll be open to new plots, and perhaps finally being able to do something with Aiden?

[DeTess]

So, um, how do we want to proceed? Shall we just tidy up the agreements at the bathhouses, make the final touches (shock absorption system is all, if I recall correctly) at our workshops, and consider the whole affair wrapped up?

And then, after that.. we'll be open to new plots, and perhaps finally being able to do something with Aiden?

That's the plan, yeah. I'll be on holiday for a couple days, but I'll try to push things forward quite a bit end of next week.

[MrAbdiel]

Sounds good to me. Aiden's still cooking his ship-design plot (pending some decisions on the buyer end I think) and repairing this sailboat with the lads, but I'm happy to abstract those towards completion as much as you like DeTess, or have them ongoing when we merge timelines again. As long as I earn my boat money, so I can waste it on repairing boats for other people.

[MrAbdiel]

Hoooo-whee, I definately want to take a crack at that art piece and I think the violin piece is practically (literally) designed to give a good collab job...Hmm. DeTess, is Aiden still in 'wait comfortably to be informed of our decision' mode for the ship design, and so able to do other projects..?

And for my clarity - has there been a little timeskip here (for Aiden) or is the boat rebuilding for the boys still proceeding in its early stages?

[WindStruck]

I'm glad to see there's an update! And now I think everyone is free!

Don't want to just immediately run off to start another project and leave you all by yourself again MrAbdiel! Although solo projects/gameplay isn't all that bad.~

..well anyway, I feel like we've kept promising to do something with you for like.. months now. So, uh. Shall our characters meet up somewhere?

Perhaps milling around the announcement board?

[DeTess]

Hoooo-whee, I definately want to take a crack at that art piece and I think the violin piece is practically (literally) designed to give a good collab job...Hmm. DeTess, is Aiden still in 'wait comfortably to be informed of our decision' mode for the ship design, and so able to do other projects..?

And for my clarity - has there been a little timeskip here (for Aiden) or is the boat rebuilding for the boys still proceeding in its early stages?

You're still waiting on further news on the ship design, that'll probably be another week or two. You've made good progress on the boat rebuilding. It's not entirely done yet, but most of what remains at this point is stuff like tarring and painting the hull, which you can mostly leave to the boys as long as you're nearby for questions.

[WindStruck]

I'd also like to follow up with Shandara's research on the water project. In essence, continuing with research and refining her results from a comprehensive array of tests. Could also explore possibilities like finding water that is cooler or warmer, and more or less briny, and with varying pressures. Other detailed analysis like mineral composition.. (may need to get some other expert to do a test for me). Oh, and attempting to make that offensive water jet spell, and maybe get Jay from the Midnight guard to test it out.

Then at the end of all that, I could compile Shandara's report into something tidy, informative, and useful. Like, instructions for setting up permanent enchantments for endlessly-flowing water, perhaps other protocol to responsibly send some back, choosing different "coordinates" so that not everyone is trying to siphon from the same place, and then, like, an actual spell recipe.

In any case, I did feel that as part of the RAS, we'd have to occasionally make publications like this to benefit the empire as a whole, which not only continues to show off skill and expertise, but also kinda helps pay for that monthly pension.

By the way, what do you think we should call that spell? Shandara's Shearing Water Spray? Honestly sounds about as cheesy as Melf's Acid Arrow.

Anyway, this research and report idea I have can just be sort of like a side project.

[DeTess]

I'd also like to follow up with Shandara's research on the water project. In essence, continuing with research and refining her results from a comprehensive array of tests. Could also explore possibilities like finding water that is cooler or warmer, and more or less briny, and with varying pressures. Other detailed analysis like mineral composition.. (may need to get some other expert to do a test for me). Oh, and attempting to make that offensive water jet spell, and maybe get Jay from the Midnight guard to test it out.

Then at the end of all that, I could compile Shandara's report into something tidy, informative, and useful. Like, instructions for setting up permanent enchantments for endlessly-flowing water, perhaps other protocol to responsibly send some back, choosing different "coordinates" so that not everyone is trying to siphon from the same place, and then, like, an actual spell recipe.

In any case, I did feel that as part of the RAS, we'd have to occasionally make publications like this to benefit the empire as a whole, which not only continues to show off skill and expertise, but also kinda helps pay for that monthly pension.

By the way, what do you think we should call that spell? Shandara's Shearing Water Spray? Honestly sounds about as cheesy as Melf's Acid Arrow.

Anyway, this research and report idea I have can just be sort of like a side project.

It's your spell so you can name it what you want :P You've done a lot of the experimenting already, so taking some time to write it up in a neat report is definitely something you can fit in without too much fuss.

[WindStruck]

Yes, Shandara has done experiments and taken notes.. She was mainly focused on helping make the water cooling system for the SCORP, however.

So I do think she'd need to set up some more experiment time to finish exploring and filling in any other holes. Cause otherwise, don't the extra qualities to the water sound like really specific things that are a bit too fancy?