cook, and knot tying it is :)
Ship Crew Requirements :
Deck hands need hands and to follow orders, basic knot tyingNote that 3 people can, when not in a storm or a fight, keep the ship on course. One sail jockey, one deck hand, one on the rudder. Skeleton crew of 6 can keep it running but they'll be exhausted (8 hours on, 8 hours off, 8 hours on, 8 hours off).
Which is why I was arguing for 12-hour shifts, based upon my Army experience. Connor can make 3 Medium-sized astral constructs for deck hands, be a Yardsman directing them to release/tie-up sails, etc., or 9 Small-sized astral constructs to do the work. (Connor can make a lot more Small-sized, they just don't have the STR of the Medium-sized.) Time is the limiting factor for extra hands: 8 hours duration. Which means the 8 hours Connor needs to sleep, no astral deck hands. Utility/flight constructs would have Skills DC 12, which should be enough for rope tying and basic commands.
Not enough people = 12 hour shifts
Just enough people = 8 hour shifts
Plenty of people = 8 hours on, 16 off (i.e., civilians)
All said, I don't want to hire on anybody else, as suggested. Let's keep this in-house as best we can. When we get to the jungle island, I'm wondering how we leave the ship and go inwards, if necessary.
Extreeemely tempted to go for it over here.
Would that change also be left up to us?
Nope, second change is pretty much random change and then gender change.
Third is random race change (may or may not have wings), and possibly gender change as well.
Extreeemely tempted to go for it over here.
Would that change also be left up to us?
-Sputter-! -Cough!- ALYS? WHAT THE FIREWORKS ARE YOU THINKING? WTF? Since when have you felt "left out" in this game?
Given her character it might just be curiosity.
"Oh so this is what it's like." *swings hips around*
Yup.
"Let's see what happens if I shoot that rune on that portal. Oh, it exploded in my face."
"Let's see what happens if I take a deep swig of that polymorph juice. Oh, it turned me into a flying monkeyman."
That sort of thing.
Let's hope Alys is older and wiser now.
So we're all on the ship (still unnamed), debating work and shifts. Sounds good. Let's hoist anchor and unfurl some sails. I'm not wasting any champagne on the name, by the way.
LOL, everyone quit and not tell the GM? Or is it just the holiday?
There's a holiday?
"Presidents' Day" or "George Washington's birthday". Plus there was a huge snow/sleet storm here in NC yesterday afternoon. That might be it. But you'd figure more people on the Internet if they're snowed in without football or basketball season.
Just waiting on others to comment. I expect Rory to take the lead here, telling us what to do, before Connor begins unpacking.
I'm always around. Same waiting on Rory to respond.
Ditto.
been feeling ill all day. updating tommorrow.
Sorry you are ill Tark, get well soon.
If Tark isn't up to posting today, I'll bot him tomorrow and move us forward.
sounds good
Hmm,
Waiting on Alys, Rory, Roderick, and Kyzin.
I never mean to overwhelm anybody with the complexity of my posts, in case anyone is wondering. Just making sure the story has plenty of meat.
Time-Warner Cable is down in my area of NC this morning, I'm using the Wi-Fi backup. Temperature outside is between 1.2F and 3.8F.
Ugh, I forgot about the ice storms. I'm wondering if we aren't down people because of that? I may hold off a few days to see if that's the issue.
I've had the flu since tuesday, and haven't been up for much because of that. I'll try and post tonight.
Going to reply around 5 PM PST when I have a real keyboard. No desire to type a lengthy reply on my tablet with the real thing so close.
Once the ship is pulled in tight and moored, a dark feathered strix with shockingly white hair lands on the deck. "Alroigt you lot, what be the ships name, and what ye be haulin on this scow? Port fees is 20 gold a week, one week in advance. Ya don't use it, ya loose it." She pulls a notebook and a pencil out of her belt pouch.
Okay, Connor's a little light on the gold needed (16 gp). So we need to cough up about 40 gp here, minimum, before we start listing cargo. And if we didn't find a name in the ship's log or on the ship's railing, I'm still going to suggest Beggar's Wish for a name. Free ship out of Atalanta on Atalantius and all that.
I'm expecting Rory to do this interaction, as captain, unless somebody like Roderick wants to step up before it falls on Connor.
Ship name is by vote, you can change it later.
The ship currently has the name Vagabond Elephant on the stern of it. You can rechristen it whatever you want, obviously, with some paint and a bottle of wine.
I like Beggar's Wish, so there's two votes for it.
Ship Names:
- Beggar's Wish: Connor, Roderick
- Highwind: Kyzin
- Vagabond Elephant: No one sane as elephants are surely dead (right?)
- Others to be submitted.
If your name isn't on the list, feel free to vote in discussion.
I'm fine with Beggar's Wish
Checked into the doctor with a blood sugar of 597. I'll post wendesday evening.
Ouch! Been there, done that. :( Not fun.
To new PCs, if you could make the following changes on your profile (if you havent' already) it would make my life easier.
In your Race entry on your profile, please put the following :
<Race> HP (<HP MAX>) {Spoiler=Stats}AC/Touch/Flat ##/##/## | Fort/Ref/Will +#/+#/+# | Init +# | CMD #{/spoiler}
But replace the {}'s with []'s.
For example :
Human HP (42) {Spoiler=Stats}AC/Touch/Flat 22/16/15 | Fort/Ref/Will +8/+5/+4 | Init +4 | CMD 18{/spoiler}
Which will then look like this :
Human HP (42)
Then, in your Classes/Levels entry, put this please...
{Spoiler=Skills}Bluff 5, Climb 0/6, Diplomacy 9, Intimidate 6, Linguistics 7, Perception 7, Sense Motive 7, Swim 0/6, Kn(Arcana) 6, Profession (Sailor) 5{/spoiler} Cavalier (Honor Guard/Emissary/Musketeer) 2
Obviously, replace the {}'s with []'s, and put in your skills and skill level, and your classes (with archetypes in parenthesis) and levels. You may need to play with the skills if you're a skill monkey, using abbreviations for skills for example, or only picking your higher skills or commonly used skills.
This will help me tremendously. Thank you.
Done
Thanks!
No worries about the sense motive thing, funnier this way too. That strix best hope Roderick never sees her again or she'll be paying interest on that 20gp with more than an ounce of flesh...
Quite a curious thing to scam someone for 40 gp and have it end up costing you your life...
Yes, Connor's pissed. Someone needs to step up to the plate soon, he's about to lose it.
Quite a curious thing to scam someone for 40 gp and have it end up costing you your life...
That was intended to be a bit of tongue in cheek hyperbole. Roderick doesn't actually jive with killing someone over 40 gp.
Yes, Connor's pissed. Someone needs to step up to the plate soon, he's about to lose it.
I don't know that it was clear, but Roderick should have plenty of coin on hand to pay out both fees. The first he'd call a 'stupidity tax' on himself and the second is simply playing into his new role as 'purser'. Part of being Mr. Super-elitist is that he gives himself a dang hard time for even relatively small (as opposed to being exposed as a magic smuggler) things. I can step up if Connor gives intimations that he's about to start cursing out stevedore.
Connor's been majorly embarrassed at nearly every turn in the adventure. First with gunslingers out to get him and the rest of the party no matter what, followed by being called out by another team member for over-tipping, followed by magic that didn't obey any rules other than to make Connor a laughingstock, followed by losing his composure in front of a dragon, followed by having his hopes of deep crystal riches dashed and being "found out" as a governmental spy on the Surface. So I was quite ready to hand over the Diplomacy/face/talking points to someone else, and we get scammed again. Connor's ready to flood the city with Small-sized astral constructs as homing pigeons with one identity in their minds.
It's what happens when a still-naive character tries to stay out of trouble in a new situation. Everybody wants their cut of the new guy.
Not to worry about the stevedore. Let's just say the next person to flop down on our deck gets to roll for initiative, next time. And Connor's leaving 4-5 Medium-sized constructs onboard with orders to "rend" any person that doesn't match our images. Maybe Hero should stay and supervise the patrols on deck.
I'm real sorry to hear about your RL medical situation, TarkXT/Rory. I hope you check out okay and get better soon.
So what should we do while we wait for Captain Rory to emerge from below decks? I really hate to "split the party" and send Adran out to scout or anything.
I think we have too, as we don't want to leave the ship with just the constructs do we?
Alys knows the "dead drop" locations just as well as Connor. Connor can stay behind with Rory and hold the ship while Alys, Adran, Roderick, Kyzin, and Elara go look for a furniture buyer. Roderick's got a better Diplomacy score than Connor, that's for sure.
Figuring out Connor's power points for the late afternoon/early evening when we finally made port: 37 - (daily Sustenance) - (3 Medium-sized ACs) - (4 Small-sized ACs) - (3 Medium-sized ACs for night shift) = 12 pp. So Connor, Rory, and 3 ACs are left onboard. Connor can apply his healing skills to Rory. :)
Just trying to keep the plot moving forward.
Tark, I just now noticed your post and I'm hope you feel better soon. I've had my share of medical stuff and it's not fun. I wish you and yours the best as you make a speedy recovery.
@Connor: That works in theory, just seems boring for you. :) That said, I'm sure mdt is up to the task of making your life exciting. I'd give you some potions to help too, but I still lack infusion. :( Soon!
I was actually planning on squeezing in some more crafting. If not, I can always just roll Profession: Sailor again as the constructs swab the deck.
Im sorry i was a little occupied at work, leaving me a bit exhausted, I will catch up soon.
Having gone through what Rory's going through, I can tell you he is probably going to be sporadic at best for at least a month. He'll be going through personality changes (blood sugar over 200 affects your personality, coming down off it reverses that).
He'll also be exhausted for a month or two as his body readjusts to normal blood sugar levels. Tack on the changes in diet, etc, and he'll be sporadic probably until April at least.
I'll hold his spot of course. Until then, it might be best to put his character in situations where it's relatively uneventful, and he can make posts and do things on his own.
I would suggest that Rory end up staying with the ship while the rest of the part do things. Connor can leave some constructs with him, until the party has sold enough to hire guards. Then as he's able to post, I can put up things for him until he's well enough to return to regular posts.
Sounds good
As part of being incognito, Elara's currently not flying; how much an issue is that being?
Here in this city, not a big thing, they have streets because they have a large population of non-fliers (about 20%). On the other hand, Elara has seen a couple of other Aegis users flying around.
Eh it's bad but I didn't go to the emergency room or fall into a coma so it's not been that terrible. In any case since we relegated Rory to guard duty (just fine as well as Rory would have not suffered the embarassment of having a ship stolen out from under him) I'll just read along. I'm alive and well otherwise.
Just let us know when you want to hop back in, and you can still communicate with Connor via Hero.
I didn't go to the emergency room or coma either, but the first month or two was a bit hairy.
Look into Kind bars, they'll be a big help. Low sugars/carbs, good protein, good for hungry. Low glycemic indexes.
Waiting on Alys and Roderick before Connor replies at the end of the night.
Looks like tomorrow we can sell furniture.
Hi, sorry my dad was in town this weekend and I had a minor surgery yesterday to address a hearing problem I've been having. I'm well recovered now, but it's late and I'm still kind of tired. :) I'll get something up about noon PST tomorrow.
The group spends some time wandering around taverns, and find the general mood of the town is upbeat, despite some prediction of attacks by Stalmorta. About a third of the population seems very keen on Stalmorta sending some ships by, as they'd like to see them blow up 'real good'.
The group is able to return to the ship without incident. Rory is still on the ship, and they find out there were two attempts to sneak on board, but nobody made it (as far as the group can tell).
** spoiler omitted **
The night passes uneventfully, other than a couple of attempts by people to sneak onboard to steal things.
This place has more thieves than the Bronx in the summer.
The next morning, the sun rises up a lurid blood red on the horizon. The sight is known to those on Atalantia, it means the islands are approaching their farthest point from any land continent. The Great Maelstrom looms on the horizon, dozens of funneled hurricanes, all clustered around a bit of ocean. Even now faint pulses of purple light can be seen on the horizon, from the permanent storm clouds.
No ship has ever braved those storms and returned, although every few decades some idiot tries it.
Uh-oh. Batten down the hatches and tie rope around all the crewmembers.
I really don't want to split the party, but given how we're likely to find the ship gone if we don't leave a sizeable crew onboard, I'm at a loss here. Yes, sell the furniture first and get a "feel" for the merchants here before we try the spices. That way if we get scammed, we haven't sold the best cargo. We still need a way to find the underground here, for the magical items.
Rory needs a 'night on the town' too.
Rory greets the would be thieves cheerfully noting how it would be a shame to have to hurl anyone bodily into the empty sky after breaking their spine.
Cheerfully.