DM Brainiac's War for the Crown: Table 1 (Inactive)

Game Master Brainiac

I've linked to a map of the Betony Estate at the top of the page.

And it looks like the newest site update broke my RSS news reader. :(

Ok, that asterisk next to the pump house looks like an adventure to me.

I think given what we've been told the farms are a priority (so we can get the funding to hit the next few projects), and we should see what we can learn about the pump house. Beyond those two I'd also consider the mill an early choice.

Before we go too far down anything else, we should also do the Basic Market, since doing that sooner will save us more in the long run with its 10% discount on improvements.

Can we only build the one temple? And how many of these tasks are we limited to at a time? I think the quickest, biggest bang for our buck is the farm, the market and the mill so we can get that special quality removed.

You can build multiple temples but only get the bonus for the first one. You can start as many tasks at a time as you can afford, except for the advanced ones until the basic ones are done.

Given the list, I agree that we should spend our initial taxes from Bartelby as follows:

Basic Market (2000) (10% discount for everything else) +1 LP
Mill (900) +1 LP
Farms, Basic (900) +1 LP
Farms, Advanced (3600) +3 LP

We can then contact Baroness Voinum for more resources.

That will leave 600 in materials towards the Pump House.

I kept thinking Baron Okerra said something about sending materials, but going back and reading through, he just mentioned coming over and helping - with his shirt off, I'm sure. :)

I think all we need to get Voinum's help is the basic farms up. And I'm down to wait but Sara's gonna wanna get going immediately, and if we wait to start things with the market, that's like four days before she can start moving.

Sara is going to have to learn patience I think! :) She's too impulsive as it is... :P

I'm good with Zhi's plan, market first seems like the most obvious choice and we were told the farms are important. Melodie might cough up the extra funds for the town roads too, its cheap but will make a difference :)

So - plan.

Renovate Manor - 500 gp (paid by Melodie)
Market place - 2000gp (paid by taxes)
Mill - 900gp (taxes)
Basic + Advanced Farms - 4500gp (taxes)
Basic Civic Improvements - 900 (450 Sara, 450 Melodie)

End result (after 1 month) - 7LP, Stachys loses 'Gone to Seed', Bettony Manor renovated (no diplomatic penalties).

Sound good to everyone? :) We can go investiagte the pumphouse in week 2 once we've gone to Dame Trant's for tea...

That's fine. Fast, too! Are we going to have a montage or... ?

I'll post a montage in a little while covering the first few days. Then your agents will arrive from Oppara, giving you a persona phase before you head to Moost for tea with the Crabbes.

I'll be editing the campaign info tab with all of the information about repairs to Stachys.

Quick question (mostly for Zhi): What happened to the silver dagger we pinched at the Gala? If Zhi's still got it can Melodie have it? It would be quite a bit more effective than the small one she's carrying at the moment (and look prettier too, which is important!).

Second: Brainiac - what will be the cost of retraining PBS (again)? Every time Melodie has levelled up so far I've been stuck between two minds and made bad choices. Since she's got Wounding Words now I might as well stick to melee combat (when she does combat...) so I'd like to trade PBS for Greater Spell Focus and admit that all of Melodie's effectiveness comes from being able to magic people! :)

Zhi will trade Mel the silver one for the samll one.

A lady's got to have a hold-out weapon. :)

Another question for Brainiac: Are there any books in the library or is it just empty shelves?

Thanks Zhi! :)

Melodie: I swear I answered your question earlier, but the forum must have eaten my post. You can retrain Point Blank Shot without spending any cash since you haven't really used it effectively so far. ;)

Zhi: There are a handful of old books there, but they're not detailed in the text. Feel free to "discover" some fun things if you'd like. :)

All: Today is my wife's last day at work. For the next few years, she will be staying at home to raise our children. This means I won't be able to post as frequently in the afternoons as I have been the past few months.

Also, we are expecting the birth of our second daughter any time between now and her due date of July 13th. When that occurs, I will likely be incommunicado for a few days. I will also be taking a month off from work, and since I usually do most of my posting from there, my posts will be sporadic and infrequent during that time. Things should get back to normal when I return to work though.

Melodie: I swear I answered your question earlier, but the forum must have eaten my post. You can retrain Point Blank Shot without spending any cash since you haven't really used it effectively so far. ;)

I've been rereading the gameplay... from what I found you're understating the case massively! :)

Weapon Finesse I think, now Zhi's given me the dagger - a one time investment in combat...

DM Brainiac wrote:

Melodie: I swear I answered your question earlier, but the forum must have eaten my post. You can retrain Point Blank Shot without spending any cash since you haven't really used it effectively so far. ;)

I've been rereading the gameplay... from what I found you're understating the case massively! :)

I was trying to be diplomatic about it. :D

I appreciate the thought :) I'd also appreciate better dice rolls, but even the DM can't provide those!

DM, exciting changes ahead for your personal life!

Would I be able to substitute Perform for Diplomacy in Bask in Glory and could I do a flat STR check for Demonstrate Might, but with the rules for using Fortitude in Organize Protest (ie, 15 + desired rank as opposed to twice the desired rank), or keeping it as double but using my BAB or CMB in place of a skill bonus?

I'll let you use Intimidate for Bask in Glory, and you can make a flat STR check for Demonstrate Might with the Fortitude rules.

I assume the former involves bragging of your mighty deeds, a la Gaston.

Thank you, and yes, I imagine.

Awaiting Zileska's persona phase and Melodie's party writeup.

Ok, I'm going to go off on a tangent here ...

I've got to ask ... what the heck is up with the basement of the manor? :)

You've got the cellar with wine storage attached. Ok, makes sense. Then you have a freakin' 130 foot long(!) tunnel leading to more storage. What are they storing there, Uranium??

That's going to drive Zhi up the wall. I can see that any spare time she has, she's going to be searching along that wall determined to find a secret door somewhere. ;)

There's a secret door that I erased leading into the hidden chamber In the tower's foundation where the house spirits make their lair, but no others. I really don't know what's up with the tunnel. :)

Zhi could finish digging it and make herself a secret passage to the pub... :)

I work directly across the street from the Sierra Nevada Brewery and we have no shortage of plumbing supplies. More than once it's been suggested that we need to run a private line. :)

In AVL?? My ex used to work there.

AVL? (Yeah, I'm provincial - I have no idea where that's at, sorry)

Northern CA - Chico to be specific.

Huh, you're just a few hours away from me.

Ok, you can't leave that unfinished. :)

A few hours ranges from Oregon all the way to Frisco. :)

AVL is the airport code for Asheville, NC. Presently, I live in Jacksonville, FL but I recently moved from Savannah, GA where I spent seven years.

I'm in Orlando, Florida. Not too far from Jacksonville. :)

I have a cousin that lives in Riverview, FL. Personally, I've never been farther east than Hannibal, MO.

I'm currently just outside of San Jose, CA. I did live in Georgia for four years, though.

Also of note: I tweaked my currently prepared spell list so that I have enhanced diplomacy as one of my chosen orisons. This can give you a +2 on Diplomacy checks, so next time we have a social phase, come see me!

(The duration is not long enough to get a bonus on Persona checks, which specifies that a bonus must last at least 24 hours to count.)

I'm actually moving down to Gainesville early fall so we'll be even closer.

Georgia's either very good or very bad but all of it is beautiful. The plan for this Christmas is to vacation in Helen and just spend two weeks driving and hiking through three different national forests (also I wanna explore this haunted site we found on our evacuation route but during the daytime and in a car better suited for mountainous driving).

Also, found an agent generator meant for the persona rules.

The best thing I ever did in Georgia was leave.

This conversation just highlights how little I know about American geography.

Mind you; my knowledge of geography here in Aus pretty much boils down to the rough location of the state borders, the capital cities, and that it's about a two-hour drive to Brisbane from here so that's probably as much a "me" problem as it is being in another country.

And I'm from England...

My mind is currently working overtime thinking that this Sepsinia-Opilio business means there is some kind creature in the hedge maze, which actually killed Opilio or compelled him to kill himself, and is why the gardeners won't go near it.

(Opilio -> Ophelia, but haven't seen a likely Hamlet yet...)

I'm guessing we don't have enough time to put on armor... ?

At least I still have the spells prepared from the previous day!

You can don your armor if you want. It only takes 1 minute for light armor.

Sara and Malphene's first meeting, illustrated.

The mage armor puts me up to AC 16; I've put it on the end of my profile in the area where I normally put spell effects and conditions.

Ok, I'll be honest; After Zileska's PJ's, I was really nervous about clicking on that link. ;)

* wiggles her bum in a bee-dance *

I guess I should've put a warning there. It's not quite unsafe but it's definitely riiiight on the edge.

Zhi, the damage penalty only applies once per hit, so you don't have to subtract it from your sneak attack.

Waiting on Sara's and Zileska's actions. :)

So who should use the Amulet and the Bracers? And what's next on the agenda?

We've got a pump house to explore/repair and Zhi would like to pay a visit to the Baron.

She would also like to find out how often taxes are collected and when the next collection will be.

You'll also have a criminal to pass judgment over when you get back to Stachys, but I will wait to post that in the morning after more people have a chance to react to the wrap up of this subplot.

The bracers are only good for someone who wears no armor, so probably either Melodie or Zhi.

The amulet is natural armor, yes? (I can't find the post where it was given, and Paizo's "search thread" function is less than useless.) That should go to whoever frontlines, so probably Sara.

Also, good job, ladies. That creature could've been very nasty but you all kept pressure on it and cleaned up the zombies really fast!