Yes I'm fine with that, Fyrtor.
I'd just like to point out that Forgery uses Linguistics, and if handwriting is not specific and there is a similar document available(such as a letter of recommendation the Viscount has received), then there's a +8 Bonus. That means I would have a +30 on the check to produce a forged Letter of Recommendation. Gladly from a noble farther away, maybe even some retainer of our target, but too far to make following up reasonable.
But it would explain why you head to him, and there may be plenty of reasons you needed to move to the capital.
Just putting that out there. I don't think you need a genuine letter of recommendation.
Also while I'm updating my sheet, does anyone need changes to my concoctions list? I don't remember how we came to the number 21 but I don't plan an changing it. We've been handling updates to the list off screen which I'm fine with. If there's something that anyone in particular needs though just let me know. Any potionable druid spell is on the table.
Also I can make extracts of any 4th or 5th level spell as well, though those lock me out of a spell slot. Still sometimes that could be very much worth doing.
Here's the link to the current list of concoctions and holders if anyone needs a reminder. I'm thinking particularly of Hal as these seem right up his alley and the list was made before he joined the party.
I used the concoction of Barkskin you gave me before last fight. A new one would be nice.
If that's the only one I think it's safe 5o handwaved as being replenished.
Sorry about the typo. The name of the spell is ashen path. It says in 5he spell description that the duration can be split, but in 10 minute increments.
No problem. I knew it was something like that but it's been a LONG time IRL so I wasn't sure.
Nothing that shambles is ever good.
This has been your thought for the day with Melia.
Sorry, been one of 'those' weeks again. Did mean to post a few days ago but didn't manage to.
Hal, I'm giving you first pick of positions at the Harcourt Manor. Let me know what you think.
Happy for the plan to get shot down, by the way.
Should we move on to convincing our new employer? Nobble the old employees first?
If one of us is looking to be made a valet, I suspect that person might have to spend some time as a footman first?
Put plainly;
Hal learns teleport.
Hal teleports to the cell he was held in
Hal hands 2 letters to the warden
Hal spends time in the cell studying
Hal teleports back
I guess he could also do the cellar - presumably he spent a lot of time looking out of the mirror? And there is an areas outside the city that could work. He could try for other areas, but I think with more risk.
Up to Mel whether she would want to come with or stay here.
In theory Dream should work to get a message there, but if I was the Bishop I'd sleep in a magic circle (given all altars create them) and may actually take longer depending on his sleep cycle.
Teleport also has the advantages that the letter can be made secure (such as with a letter-lock and seal, or encoded) so Hal doesn't know what it says, and can be extremely long (such as a multi page written report).
Okay; does this sound right for the remaining steps?
Mel applies for a job (possibly just handing in a resume)
The next morning Hal ports back.
Mel reports the valet job (assuming it has not been advertised and so needs word of mouth)
Hal applies youth disguise.
Hal applies as a valet/footman who is a 'friend' of Mel's.
Hal and Mel sneak around the house.
While Hal will need to spend many hours scribing, the checks won't be an issue.
That sounds about right. I'll get a post up applying for a job soon.
In the interests of accurate bookkeeping (a thing I prize highly), let it be noted that my wardrobe cost forty crowns, and the small pedagogical library a further 80. To this I have added 10 crowns to cover assorted practical sundries.
No doubt I have an account with a respectable Iustian banker, which I monitor carefully, and perhaps some small investments in low-risk stocks. My previous position has reached its natural end, in that my pupil (a sweet but impractically fanciful girl) has concluded her education. Perhaps in due course I may educate her children, as well; but it will be a number of years yet before she will need my services. I am a tutor, not a nursemaid.
In the meantime, idle hands make fretful minds.
Finally, I dutifully accept the -2 penalty for disguising myself as middle-aged. After taking 10, my Disguise check is thus 29.
Happy holidays, all!
Hope everyone had a merry Christmas. We had a white christmas for the first time! 30.5C (86.9F) and hail. Made for an interesting day...
We, too, had a white Christmas. But it was -9 F. And then today we got at least 8 inches of snow with steady 20 mph wind.
We had 45 degrees F and raining... Worst Christmas weather I've ever had but maybe the best Christmas. My toddler was old enough to get super excited about Christmas for the first time.
Curious where folks are for those willing to share. I know the answer for some of you already but not others. I'm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Grand Forks, North Dakota. Oh, it's snowing again ...
I live in Maryland. It was nice and cool for Christmas. Kids missed the snow, I didn’t
Tucson AZ, it was a rainy Christmas for us which is always nice :)
Canberra, Australia.
Okay; Hal needs 29 hours (plus 8 hours sleep, plus 1 hour to memorise) to fulfill brilliant planner's requirement and scribe 21 spells. 2 sleeps + 2 memorises takes this to 47 hours. He'll need an hour or so to change disguises & meet the count. He also needs some time for conventional shopping and eating. I think this puts him at about 50 hours? I think you don't have to spend time on levelling spells, which takes him back to 46. That is from waking up the morning of meeting the Count, however.
I think that while he can port back whenever he is given a reply by the Bishop (and happy to roleplay that if theres a catch, or he needs to convince people "I'm not a spy! Well, actually I guess I am a spy, but I'm his spy..."), however he'll not be fit for work until the day after Madame Crixton commences employment? Does this seem fair?
Seems fair to me, Hal. I don't want to put any extra brakes on forward momentum.
Happy belated holidays and a happy new year all. Been spending some time with extended family(everybody wants to see their grandkids - i.e. my girls) and all that and just recently returned home - will catch up and post later today.
No worries. Usually, a bump is just for communication, not out of frustration. Around the holidays is definitely one of the communication times.
Updates coming tomorrow morning.
Mel: I hunted down some of the sources of my massive discrepancy between wages and housing costs. That should be 1 gp per DAY, not per week. The rest is that I assumed long-term lodgings at an apartment would be similar in price to the same rooms in an inn. But that's probably not true as long-term accommodations are probably much cheaper.
So anyone who is renting a room, let's cut your daily cost from gp to sp.
It would still be impossible for someone like Madame Crixton to maintain a set of rooms on just her income, but I think that's ok. At least the economics aren't as astronomically off as they were before.
Okay, so, that means Mel's rent for the house is now 8 sp per day, not 8 gp per day. Yes? And so, since I paid 180 gp for a month's rent, I should go refund all but 18 gp of that.
Correct.
Excellent. I am happy to have that 162 gp back.
Might be tomorrow night until I can update for everyone. We're not in the realm of quick text posts between tasks and it's a busy end to the week.
So, as far as how summoned creatures go, I can "direct" these elementals, but I figure they are only sort of under my direct control.
Anyways stats for small aether elemental.
Small Aether Elemental
My main question is whether or not you share a language with them.
I do, they speak all of the elemental languages. I speak Auran and Terran. I addressed them in Auran.
So, should finally be back for good. Apologies for going missing for the past 2 weeks. But I should be able to return to a more steady attendance record now.
As you know, the last months were quite...packed for me - and stressful. While most of that is in the past, I still needed a bit of a timeout for myself. Apologies for not giving advance notice.
Sorry to hear about the stress. I hope you and your family are doing better now.
[spoiler=Testing if it's "quotes"]
Do quotes in the title break spoilers?
[/spoiler]
Looks like it.
You can use quotes, but only if they go around the entire spoiler title.
[spoiler="Who framed Roger Rabbit"] Will work.
[spoiler=Who framed Roger Rabbit] Will work.
[spoiler=Who "framed Roger Rabbit"] Will not work.
Also, you can spoiler within spoilers.
See, there's a spoiler below this:
Yeah, you can even do multiple ones.
Apropos of nothing in particular, if you lived in a world in which magic existed, and you suddenly developed a compelling need to eliminate magic from the world entirely, how would you go about it? And I'm not talking about eliminating knowledge of it or practitioners or anything -- magic itself has to stop existing.
I've been trying to think of a real-world analog, and I guess it would be something like trying to eliminate electricity. You'd have to figure out how to alter some very very basic facts about physical reality. And if you succeeded at doing so, you'd probably screw up physics to the point where the universe stops being capable of supporting life. At least we know it.
I suppose it could fundamentally disrupt everything. Unless you view magic as something extra layered on top of a world that normally operates according to physical rules.
It depends on the source of magic. Is it a natural phenomenon? Well, that would be like changing physics. Possible...with magic.
Does it stem from a source, such as a deity? Well, killing the deity might end magic then. I'm thinking D&D here with mystra.
Does it come from a place? Then cutting the world off from that place would work. Such as in Warhammer, where magic comes from the broken portals on each end of the world.
One thing to keep in mind: You may suffer unexpected side effects.
Electricity in "daily business" is just what powers diverse appliances etc.
But, for example, neurons firing depend on the Membrane potential - the electric potential - driven past a treeshold. That is, if you remove "electricity" as a concept, you also kill brains(and lots of other biological functions).
There may also be less severe side effects - e.g. electrical discharges we know as lightning are often side effects of different pressure areas - if there is no 'electricity' then that tension may find other outlets, or built up to a devastating new phenomena.
(I know we are talking magic and not electricity here, but in a world with magic, that may very well also be 'permeating' and be e.g. a spark of life/soul, or at the very least have some minor individual impact on things - maybe subdual magic kept people healthy, and now illnesses and plagues go rampant? Or people empowered any gods that exist not by faith, but by focusing a inherent but inert magical potential through their faith...maybe any fantastic creatures that exist in the world unknowingly depend on magic for sustenance and now need to find other sources (e.g. life force - or extreme emotions(fear, lust, pain...))
That said, I agree that the SOURCE of the magic would be required to even formulate a plan to eliminate it. Most likely, it would be easiest to start from the beginning - and create a new reality without magic.
Much like you could create a simulated reality in which e.g. there are no males. The difficulty, then, is replacing the objective reality with the simulated one, but alas, magic may hold the key to that.
As a general answer, I would probably attempt to attain absolute mastery over magic in an attempt to unravel it. Even if it does not hold the key to it's own undoing, perfect understanding of the materia would allow me to do more focused research on where I may attempt to start with my plan. (Compare having a black box versus having schematics of whats inside - even if I can't read them and understand what the components do, it will allow me to do focused research, versus just trial and error with the black box.)
Hey, Hal! Haven't heard from you in a bit. I don't suppose you're available to collect some, err, findings from Harcourt's manor? I'd love to stay and hear what Harcourt has to say in the morning, but I can't risk it with a handy haversack full of incriminating evidence in my possession.
We could maybe have arranged a drop-off -- like, Mel slips outside and hands it to Hal so he can spirit it away.
I am! Sorry - Paizo seems to be having intermittent issues with my new computer.
Try clearing cookies and signing back in. That may help.
Okay, so, timing: Hal is back at the townhome and has received the letter. But we don't have any in-game reason for Hal to show up at the Harcourt Manor in the dead of night to collect Mel's loot. We could just retcon it, but I think I'd rather not.
GM, how heavily guarded is the Harcourt manor at night? Could I plausibly exit (stealthily) and then re-enter? Presumably with some suitable rolls.
Hmm. Hal is capable of contacting Mel via magic, but is still remembering her reaction last time. There are less direct ways to do it as well.
I'm happy to wait until morning if it makes more sense, but I can see Hal wanting to give some signal that he's back.
He could fly up to the window as a bird or something? Or he could just turn up at dawn with a message or delivery? Actually... he could probably just use Dream, I guess? Spell Study to get it and then cast it and wait around until she sleeps. Alt, if she calls or signals him he can probable head over? Classic 'this <thing> in the left side of the window means contact me?'