The Golden Pegasus

Game Master Sai Ling

I actually had not looked at the spellslinger until now, what an interesting class. I see how the crafting will be a problem with your opposition schools, but I bet we can still have some collaborative projects. We can figure out more next time we level up.

or I'm like that doddering old uncle who manages to be just amusing enough that you still have him over for Christmas even though he gives everyone homemade jerky that even the dog can't chew through.

Cueta's stomach emits a long, low rumble, like a far-off earthquake. Narrowing her eyes, she says, "I'm not sure what this Christmas is that you speak of, but we'd happily take some of that jerky!"

Hey, if soldiers could deal with hardtack, I think our Newspringers can handle anything.

Sorry for being over-sensitive guys. I shall bury the issue forthwith.

Is it too early to ask if there's things we should be looking at building?

I think we were going to start looking into building shelter?

Anything that contributes to increased food or shelter are priorities.

Still working on food at the moment, we've been building gardens lately. Also could use another fisher-sentient team.

Can we do two more fisher teams? One for the remaining longboat and one for the canoe (not the war canoe)? The bang for the buck on those teams is pretty great. Between three teams and Sai and Walton, we could be pulling in ~28 food/day, iirc, which without looking it up I believe is quicker and cheaper than two gardens.

In general, I think our priorities are 1) food; 2) shelter; 3) protection.

Once we get food stabilized, we should definitely build shelter. Cold weather is about 7 months away. The dwarves had the idea to build longhouses pretty early on - I think this is a good solution for the time being. Right now we need housing for ~ 120 people. If things get really dire this winter, we can try and resettle some of our people at Portress, the shallow caves to the east, or perhaps even Broken Skull Valley, depending on how things go with our neighbors to the north.

I'd also like to get into the protection game. Call me paranoid, but leaving all the defensive structures to the Thayers, or any other single power group, leaves me a bit worried. I'd like to get a guard tower built at the beach, with a guard team there equipped with an ogre-tusk horn, to alert Newspring of approaches by sea.

Likewise, if Hassan dies, I'd like his guard team to go to anyone but the Thayers - spread the power around a bit, just in case.

We could also use: storage for our food, a latrine, a means of communicating with Broken Skull Valley (carrier pigeons?), winter gear (leather workshop and crafting team?), a wood mill, a grain mill, a couple more guard teams, horses (or giant ants to ride), and a papermaker (for creating maps, reference works, etc.).

Sorala would also like a hut near the Tiger Oak Tree, just 'cause.

We can try, but Nerk has stated fishing has its own diminishing returns, even though they're separate from our foraging ones. We'll have to see if he says that is going to lead to overfishing or not.

I think worrying about winter is jumping the gun right now, but our explorers will most likely encounter cold weather long before the settlers do. We can have the food problem solved and shelters built by the time it's winter.

The Thayers aren't going to betray anyone, and by giving them adequate representation in the government I don't think they will ever even consider it. Next to the hobgoblins they are our closest allies. They know how powerful we are, we have only been helpful, and I don't think they want to get into a power struggle when we could all work together instead. I believe this is Sandra's thinking, anyway.

Shelters can be handled after food. With the influx of the new recruit's capital, we will be able to construct something right away.

Donatello, Ysanne, what capital will you be bringing with you?

I think worrying about winter is jumping the gun right now, but our explorers will most likely encounter cold weather long before the settlers do. We can have the food problem solved and shelters built by the time it's winter.

Cool! I haven't mathed it out, but it seems like a large undertaking to get a reliable food intake and shelter done in 7 months.

The Thayers aren't going to betray anyone, and by giving them adequate representation in the government I don't think they will ever even consider it. Next to the hobgoblins they are our closest allies. They know how powerful we are, we have only been helpful, and I don't think they want to get into a power struggle when we could all work together instead. I believe this is Sandra's thinking, anyway.

Perhaps Cueta's frosty relationship with Edmund was coloring my post a bit. I should have said: I'm not in favor of putting to much control over security in anyone's hands. I'd much rather have a few people holding those cards (including the PCs). And Cueta (right now anyways) sees the protection of our coastline as being something she's best suited for, not those Taldan landlubbers, and she doesn't see the need of centralization. I edited my previous post to make this a bit more clear.

For the record, I (and Cueta) trust the Thayers.

EDIT: Actually, the more I think about it, the more I want to keep that guard team "in the family" if Hassan dies, if possible. The Thayers already have a guard team at Newspring (at least one). Hassan's guards could go to the beach. Giving the Thayers Hassan's team will also deprive us of capital.

That makes a lot more sense. In a way, we are security ourselves. I've been doing the rolls for Hassan's guard team, we're not giving up the team for sure. It doesn't make sense RP wise I suppose.

I do want the ogre's tusks to be made into a warning horn... for Istiel to use. Muhahahaha. When we're not burying Nerk is stuff to read I'll probably ask him sometime about Vallen carving the tusk into a sounding horn.

Also does Cuet and Tomag need healing? I just noticed your HP taglines.

As long as Tomag gets a good night's rest, he should be fully healed in a day (it's HD/day, isn't it?) so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Tusk->Horn=OK.

Healing probably not relevant because away team is going into suspended animation for three days and then returning with the news that they finished exploring the hex and found nothing new.

Fisher folk. Sai and Walton will be folded into future fisherteams. There will be a limit of one fisherperson team/hex until you're able to expand into hexes that are predominantly water.

One further thing to consider is the founding of a kingdom. Granted, it's a long way off, but you're getting food locked in ... until the GM throws a curveball at you, anyway, and the Thayers have security more or less under control.

Just to annoy Cueta, the reason Edmund Thayer has been going along so easily with things lately is because he sees things unfolding according to the natural order. The aristocracy (him, Sandra) are seeing to the needs of defense while the peasants (you) are providing food and making stuff. He sees Sandra's building of shelter as the kind of charitable affectation noble ladies in Taldor indulge in.

Hassan's Guards are free agents at this point, and that's fine. If you want to claim them, you pay the cost to create the team and then they're yours. In the meantime, they'll probably defer to Edmund as a commander, simply because he trains with them, fights well, and has trained for most of his life to lead in battle. You might not like him, but you can't say he doesn't know what he's doing.

I knew that guy was up to something. Fortunately I think the PCs, 2PCs and allies are stronger than the Thayer's faction.

Wow that took care of pretty much everything nicely. Thanks Nerk!

Just to annoy Cueta, the reason Edmund Thayer has been going along so easily with things lately is because he sees things unfolding according to the natural order. The aristocracy (him, Sandra) are seeing to the needs of defense while the peasants (you) are providing food and making stuff. He sees Sandra's building of shelter as the kind of charitable affectation noble ladies in Taldor indulge in.

I don't know why, but I laughed really hard at this. Probably because I just got called a peasant. It makes a lot of sense though.

Hassan's Guards are free agents at this point, and that's fine. If you want to claim them, you pay the cost to create the team and then they're yours. In the meantime, they'll probably defer to Edmund as a commander, simply because he trains with them, fights well, and has trained for most of his life to lead in battle. You might not like him, but you can't say he doesn't know what he's doing.

Just to clarify, it was a soldier team. Personally I have no interest in them, I was just keeping the capital generation rolls going in Gair's absence. However, we, as a group, paid for their creation (3 Goods, 2 Influence, 5 Labor) and seeing a team diffuse away because a player left makes me feel like we wasted those resources.

If the team is to be removed from our control, could we at least get the sell price of the team? It would be 50% of the cost to make the team, which is 1.5 goods, 1 influence, 2.5 labor, which I would round to 2 goods, 1 influence, and 2 labor because labor is more expensive than goods.

I do want the ogre's tusks to be made into a warning horn... for Istiel to use. Muhahahaha. When we're not burying Nerk is stuff to read I'll probably ask him sometime about Vallen carving the tusk into a sounding horn.

We've got two tusks, right? One for Istiel, one for the beach guards (if there are to be beach guards)?

Just to annoy Cueta, the reason Edmund Thayer has been going along so easily with things lately is because he sees things unfolding according to the natural order. The aristocracy (him, Sandra) are seeing to the needs of defense while the peasants (you) are providing food and making stuff. He sees Sandra's building of shelter as the kind of charitable affectation noble ladies in Taldor indulge in.

GAH! ARRRGGH! MUCH NASHING OF TEETH AND STAMPING OF FEET!

Seriously though, that's pretty awesome. I'm glad that our interests are aligning right now, because Edmund kind of scares Cueta.

Hopefully, down the line, the Thayers can compromise. Cueta would have no problem with the Thayers having a prominent place in our new society (they've proven themselves mothers after all), but locking in a noble class and a serf class? Yeah, that's pretty much the antithesis of what Cueta sees happening. Cueta didn't get stranded behind when the Lillend left due to an untimely sickness from Deeshka didn't bravely strike out to shape her own destiny in the New World to see that happen!

Sorala, for her part, would be fine with some sort of parlimentary representation of a noble class, if there's checks and balances in place.

Cueta, a Signal Horn is 1gp (or a tusk? we have two). Vallen has a Craft: Sculpture of 18 while taking ten. I would say a signal horn is a high-quality item (unless Nerk says it's complex) which is a DC of 15. I did the math and Vallen can theoretically make 3 signal horns a day- we have two ogre tusks, so he can take a day off from the forge and easily make two signaling horns in a single day whenever you want them.

I'm fine with signal horns. You don't even have to take a day off from glaiving. Just get someone to wash the ogre snot off them.

If the soldiers were made from the group's common pool, then you still have them. Narratively speaking, they'll still defer to Thayer until someone else presents themself, but their loyalty (and income) will go to you guys. For some reason I thought they belonged to Hassan.

Now all I have to do is find a dramatically suitable moment to kill off the nopostitis cases.

And I promise, tomorrow I'll bring the Wasp's Tail to Newspring.

Two signal horns woo! It can be a before-bed project Vallen has been working on...

The soldiers and mason team were started simultaneously using most of the group's resources from what text I can find in the discussion. I am 95% certain both teams are from the group's common pool, but I have no one quote that proves anything.

@DM Nerk: given the half-rations for so long, is it going to be possible to see gaunt frames and so forth? Seems like we're going to arriving in the middle of Christmas (with all the pork feasts), not sure if it is going to be apparent how they've been eating. Might assume this is par for the course here in 'Paradise'.

Donatello, Ysanne, what capital will you be bringing with you?

Well, given we're arriving by boat from the sound of it, rather than raft...

He's not quite the addict this suggests. Civilisations that succeed tend to be those that have access to something they can drink other than raw water. Coffee, tea and beer are the best choices. Well, beer is the best choice, but...

Alchemical Cement powder. Allows for rapid building of his school, even if the school is going to look... bad.

For the rest I'm tempted to go livestock (sheep?) but I think... and don't hate me... books. We can, with resources, build from raw materials to damn near any material good, but the knowledge in those books is the true seed of civilisation. Practically it is probably a stupid idea given the immediate problems, but I worked in academics long enough to believe this especially if we might be about to be cut off from the rest of the world.

So... to check I've got this right. If I want to get a Goods, and I have a take 10 check of 20, I need to work for 10 days to get 20 gold, then one more day to turn that gold into a goods?

I'd also like to get into the protection game. Call me paranoid, but leaving all the defensive structures to the Thayers, or any other single power group, leaves me a bit worried. I'd like to get a guard tower built at the beach, with a guard team there equipped with an ogre-tusk horn, to alert Newspring of approaches by sea.

One of the threats you're worried about is the bird-demons, right?

So far you've met the hobgoblins, who string nets, and hide from the demons at night, despite being a nocturnal species.

You've met the Kuru, who live in a cave.

Thayer is building a wall that leaves the inside open to the sky.

Am I missing something? I'm a bit worried one night DM Nerk will have people being flocked by demons who carry them up in to the night sky and drop them, and none of us can see a black bird-demon in the moonless night sky. Those few who can (elves?) just become the primary targets.

The Beach Tower sounds like a good idea. I'm interested in maybe building the school out there, because hey; wizard=tower, right? Plus a sniper in a tower might be useful if the bird demons come (except we'd need a way to see them in the dark).

There was an argument previously about the difficulty of defending two sites versus 'not all eggs in one basket'. I think that was resolved in terms of keeping everyone together, but that may have changed.

We've only been on half-rations for 11 days. While I'm sure everyone has lost a few pounds, I doubt there are sunken cheeks at this point.

Ultimate Campaign Give this a read if you haven't already. I'm glad you're bringing all those things- the moral boost from having some coffee and hops alone will be grand. I was referring to the 100gp of capital you were both allowed to select with your character creation.

This can be 100gp worth of goods, labor, influence, or magic, or mix and match. This is all referred to as Capital.

In order to generate capital normally, you either straight-out buy it or earn it. Buying it costs more money than earning it. If you want to earn capital, you make a skill check for the day's labor- if you get a 10 or above, you earn one point of capital for that type AND pay the gp cost associated with it.

Example- Vallen uses craft: blacksmithing to earn goods. He takes 10 on the roll for a total of 19. Therefore, he earns 1 goods and pays 10gp for earning that goods. If he wanted two goods in one day, he would have to get higher than a 20, and pay 20gp.

Otherwise, you will be using your skills to earn money by the following manner- Skill check (roll or take 10) + modifer /10 = amount in gp earned for the day.

Example- Vallen uses Craft: Stonemasonry to earn gp for the day. He takes 10 + 10 (his modifier) = 20. 20/10 = 2.0gp earned. So yes, it would take 10 days to get 20 gold, and another day with a check of 20 to turn that gold into goods.

All of our projects have been group pooled so far. We agree on what to build next and go for it. After the food problem is solved we'll probably build our own shelters with our own capital, and then probably re-converge on building other more expensive buildings with our combined capital, if I had to guess.

Cueta Guiding Star wrote:

I'd also like to get into the protection game. Call me paranoid, but leaving all the defensive structures to the Thayers, or any other single power group, leaves me a bit worried. I'd like to get a guard tower built at the beach, with a guard team there equipped with an ogre-tusk horn, to alert Newspring of approaches by sea.

One of the threats you're worried about is the bird-demons, right?

So far you've met the hobgoblins, who string nets, and hide from the demons at night, despite being a nocturnal species.

You've met the Kuru, who live in a cave.

Thayer is building a wall that leaves the inside open to the sky.

Am I missing something? I'm a bit worried one night DM Nerk will have people being flocked by demons who carry them up in to the night sky and drop them, and none of us can see a black bird-demon in the moonless night sky. Those few who can (elves?) just become the primary targets.

The Beach Tower sounds like a good idea. I'm interested in maybe building the school out there, because hey; wizard=tower, right? Plus a sniper in a tower might be useful if the bird demons come (except we'd need a way to see them in the dark).

There was an argument previously about the difficulty of defending two sites versus 'not all eggs in one basket'. I think that was resolved in terms of keeping everyone together, but that may have changed.

The bird-demons (which may not be actual demons, the hobs just REFER to them as demons- to be confirmed) were not discovered until after the walls were far into production. Plus they're still useful. The kuru in our immediate area are dead, but there are more out there outside of the bay area.

We would like to settle the Portress one day. It will likely become our secondary settlement, whenever the heck we reach that point.

Ysanne has 10 labor

We've only been on half-rations for 11 days. While I'm sure everyone has lost a few pounds, I doubt there are sunken cheeks at this point.

My bad, read through all the posts at once and I got the impression it had been longer than that. Yeah, 11 days shouldn't have caused problems especially if you're being careful how you do it (like with children and pregnant women)

Ultimate Campaign Give this a read if you haven't already. I'm glad you're bringing all those things- the moral boost from having some coffee and hops alone will be grand. I was referring to the 100gp of capital you were both allowed to select with your character creation.

Oh, misunderstood, sorry. He's got roasted coffee beans, sugar and beer on him, thought you meant I was supposed the qualify what the Capital actually was.

All of our projects have been group pooled so far. We agree on what to build next and go for it. After the food problem is solved we'll probably build our own shelters with our own capital, and then probably re-converge on building other more expensive buildings with our combined capital, if I had to guess.

Okay, so a sort of unofficial consortium? Work to get buildings set up, people contribute capital and in return will eventually get what they're looking for set up as well?

Does the group own the things the group built?
I know that NPCs in the community sort of do own some things (like the Thayers)

The purchased cost of Goods and Labor is 20gp per 1 unit. With 100gp, you can afford 5 Labor and 5 Goods, respectively.

If you were EARNING the capital the gp cost would be 10gp per 1 unit. But you are PURCHASING instead.

Okay, so a sort of unofficial consortium?

Yeah, but in a hand-waivey fashion. We, the PCs, own all of the things we build, and assign the various buildings and teams to specific characters for RP purposes alone. It's a very abstract system.

By the way, our down-time rolls and discussion is located Here

Uh oh. We are about to have some company, good and bad.

I have the feeling we are about to meet the native dwarves.

Ysanne and Donatello, you're officially invited to the gameplay thread. If there are any questions, don't be shy, I'll do my best and obviously, so will the others.

Have you found your way to The New World? It's sort of a separate campaign where a lot of the bookkeeping takes place, and it's wonderful because it means more places to look every time I want to recall something I mentioned six months ago. Feel free to ignore it, which I do for the most part, or to read through it and get a sense of what's happening.

Vallen, are you staying in Newspring or are you leaving with the explorers? I'm fairly sure of Cueta, Tomag and Kal'Tos, but you're always a wildcard.

Are we in Newspring or aboard the Wasp Tail or someplace else entirely?

I'm pretty sure Vallen has considered using the ogre's chains to make a manacle that prevents him from ever being more than ten feet from his forge. ;)

Tomag .. HA!

Ysanne: sorry, you're on the Wasp's Tail at the moment. My next post will have you arriving at Newspring, (unless you do something to change the ship's course) but I wanted to give you both the option to respond to the situation you find yourselves in before you reach the shore.

Nerk, Vallen is staying in Newspring. Tomag, that is a brilliant idea which I will execute immediately! (Though actually that is straying into the territory of Droskar worship and Vallen would get upset if you suggested it in character)

Ysanne, the Wasp's Tail which is en route to Newspring. It is passing through the bay being pursued by an unknown, aggresively maneuvering ship.

Hopefully that second sail is another lost ship. But who am I kidding no way anything that nice will happen.

And Kal'Tos might not forgive Nerk if he isn't around when there are heretical dwarves to kill.

Thanks Nerk and Vallen, just wanted to be extra sure before my introduction.

Enter Ysanne! :)

I'm not THAT evil a GM, Kal'Tos.

Or am I?

Vallen, didn't you want Istiel to have a horn? If you'd like Istiel to have one, Cueta will give the guards her horn.

Of course, if given a horn, Cueta would be totally pleased!

@Ysanne: have been trying to type a reply and realised I don't know if Donatello knows Ysanne is a practitioner, let alone a witch.

Also, how has she styled herself? Ysanne? Miss Nightweaver? Raven?

I was hoping to give Donatello a habit of using nicknames (which fits the era I was going for, and if I crib from the Dresden Files makes a lot of sense), so how is Ysanne pronounced please? Isz-ahn?

iy-SAEN or iy-SAEN-eh

Raven is a nickname Ysanne has taken a liking to; she introduces herself as Ysanne The Nightweaver Raven.

As far as what you know, that's really up to you. I guess I presumed already that Donatello was willing to talk me at all in the first place, so to be fair you should be allowed to presume what you want. If you prefer to think Ysanne is just a pretty face on board and the crew rumors to be a witch that's fine, or being a wizard yourself perhaps the spell component pouch and familiar satchel Ysanne carries at least gave away that she was a practitioner of magic.

I'm game for anything honestly. You can imagine up whole situations where maybe I was the one that started that fire and you ended up taking the fall for it for some reason. I'd either owe you one, or I'd turn it around in game and say you provided the gunpowder or just say stop trying to blame me, you know what you did.

If you're trying to develop a specific result then that can be worked out off to the side. Hope that answers your questions. :)

Vallen, didn't you want Istiel to have a horn? If you'd like Istiel to have one, Cueta will give the guards her horn.

Of course, if given a horn, Cueta would be totally pleased!

I was mostly joking, I don't really care who has the horn as long as our explorers have one and the beach guard has one. It was your idea, so I think you should have it anyway.

iy-SAEN or iy-SAEN-eh

Raven is a nickname Ysanne has taken a liking to; she introduces herself as Ysanne The Nightweaver Raven.

As far as what you know, that's really up to you. I guess I presumed already that Donatello was willing to talk me at all in the first place, so to be fair you should be allowed to presume what you want. If you prefer to think Ysanne is just a pretty face on board and the crew rumors to be a witch that's fine, or being a wizard yourself perhaps the spell component pouch and familiar satchel Ysanne carries at least gave away that she was a practitioner of magic.

I'm game for anything honestly. You can imagine up whole situations where maybe I was the one that started that fire and you ended up taking the fall for it for some reason. I'd either owe you one, or I'd turn it around in game and say you provided the gunpowder or just say stop trying to blame me, you know what you did.

If you're trying to develop a specific result then that can be worked out off to the side. Hope that answers your questions. :)

Thank you, that's very flexible of you :) I'll try to be flexible as well.

Ten legged spiders?! I'll stick to my divine components thank you.

So. The aggressive ship did not follow the Wasp's Tail into the bay. The question is now why. There is a very good chance the demon-worshiping dwarves were aboard that ship, and they very much wanted to kill all of you.

What are they afraid of in the bay? Possibilities:

• The elves and blackbirds- I suspect the elves and dwarves allied against the black birds in the past, and lost. Elves were subjugated, dwarves fled those lands and do not return so as to not provoke the elves and the blackbirds. They probably have a difficult time dealing with the birds.
• Something is hidden in the bay that we don't know about, that they want to stay away from. I have no real logical evidence for this, but isn't it strange that no one lives on the shore, even the elves? Perhaps this was caused by the kuru raiders, or the blackbirds, or... something else.
• A lamer explanation is that the draft of the dwarves' ships are too long to make it through the channel, whereas the Wasp's Tail and Lillend were both low-draft ships.

Regardless- the dwarves definitely know there are ships going in and out of the bay. I fear they may wait at the mouth of the bay for the Wasp's Tail to leave. After all, they know it will leave sometime.

Procedural question please!
I wanted Donatello to take 20 on looking at the enemy ship while working and talking with Ysael. I think he's got the knowledge to work out some clues about how the ship is built.
Even with take 20, he's looking at a 23, so not going to get any fine details, but he might be able to get an idea of the ship's capabilities.
Is that something I should put in the Golden Pegasus game thread or the New World daily game thread?

Gameplay thread- just ask Nerk if Don noticed any details about the pursuing ship. Or Don could ask one of the lookouts. They're professional lookers!

The New World thread is for your downtime rolls, and represents 8 hours of work over the day. The day is pretty much shot for your characters I would think, and you can probably start downtime rolls the follow in-game day.

Thanks Vallen! Will do.

Something is hidden in the bay that we don't know about, that they want to stay away from. I have no real logical evidence for this, but isn't it strange that no one lives on the shore, even the elves? Perhaps this was caused by the kuru raiders, or the blackbirds, or... something else.

That is a scary thought, but makes a lot of sense. I did wonder about the lack of sentient native inhabitants when you landed.

DM Nerk: The 50 arrivals you stated (and their stuff) does or does not include Ysanne and Donatello... ie are there +52 people on the boat.

I had two loadouts of equipment, one for shipwrecked on a raft with what he could grab, and one for arriving as a real colonist on a ship. I've been assuming the real colonist loadout... but it barely has 16lbs of beer, not a barrel - do I need to switch?

Let's say it does not include Donatello and Ysanne.

Your beer is part of your equipment, the other barrel of beer is simply a plot device.

the other barrel of beer is simply a plot device.

Dun dun duuuuuun!

Really though, this is wonderful. Way more than I was expecting to be on that ship. (I expected pain, and suffering, and crazy dwarves) Now we just have to convince these people to share their food.

I approximate with this influx of food we can operate at full rations for 13 days if the gatherers find an average of 50 food a day.

We could perpetuate at half-rations almost indefinitely, but no one wants to do that.

I purpose we have full rations on every fifth day, starting with the day of the feast on the 5th. Our current food stores will last ~45 days as such, and people will probably be slightly more happy.

Of course we're going to have a town meeting to discuss all this, which Vallen will propose soooooon.