The Golden Pegasus

Game Master Sai Ling

Could we go to 3/4 rations?

Also I think it is reasonable for Septimus to claim to be the local healer considering he spends almost every day making heal checks.

Quarter rations will last us ~30 days.

I think that's a fair claim too, considering Vallen would rather be at the forge.

I think that's a fair claim too, considering Vallen would rather be at the forge.

And any other explanation might get awkward, considering that the rest of Septimus' skills relate to being super sneaky and tricky and possibly killing people.

The perfect cover.

By the way, Don. If you would like to pick up some skills that might be useful in the future, craft: Siege Engines may be super good.

I have it in my head that Vallen (or Don, if he has the skill) will invent a siege-engine net-thrower that fires into the air to take out flying black birds with extreme prejudice.

Also, Don, you should ask Cueta what happened to the last dog that was brought to Newspring... :p

Also, Don, you should ask Cueta what happened to the last dog that was brought to Newspring... :p

Yeah, Cueta figured if she didn't do it, someone else would get around to it when she was away...

By the way, Don. If you would like to pick up some skills that might be useful in the future, craft: Siege Engines may be super good.

I have it in my head that Vallen (or Don, if he has the skill) will invent a siege-engine net-thrower that fires into the air to take out flying black birds with extreme prejudice.

See, this is where the whole trained/untrained skill thing gets awesome. Don can start working on such a siege engine today.

Now, you might have to allow for "extreme prejudice" meaning that whoever fires the thing yells some racial slurs, but....

Yes. Feel my awesome jury rigging powers! Bwahahahaha.

Cueta, that post had me a bit upset. Maybe a lot upset actually. I could see exactly why she did it, and the necessity, but it shows how jaded I am that [i]that[i] is the scene that has bothered me most in the whole torturing, murdering and cannibalising since you lot came to Newspring.

I was holding off introducing Don's dog until they started shipping cargo across.

Cueta, that post had me a bit upset. Maybe a lot upset actually. I could see exactly why she did it, and the necessity, but it shows how jaded I am that [i]that[i] is the scene that has bothered me most in the whole torturing, murdering and cannibalising since you lot came to Newspring.

As a dog owner, it upset me to write it! As a storyteller, it made sense though...

As a dog owner, it upset me to write it! As a storyteller, it made sense though...

Hey - story wise it was brilliant, and beautifully written.

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.

Out of curiosity, how many more gardens/whatever need to be built in order to have enough food to feed the new extant population without scavenging?

That's a lot of gardens. Makes sense: the majority of a pre-industrial civilisation was involved getting food.

But does that start to mean there aren't enough people to run them, or that they take up too much room?

I'm wondering if there is going to end up being an "every family has their own garden" type situation... or if a certain number of citizens are going to become full time farmers and give Mr Thayer his dream of a peasant underclass.

Seems like at the moment that peasant underclass would be the scavengers doing dirty, dangerous work to find the food for those building the defences and providing 'protection'. Being tied to the land would actually be a step up for them...

Interesting thing about the downtime rules as they exist, is that gardens and things actually produce without anyone working them. I think I said at some point that one NPC would pretty much be tied to each farm/garden plot, but I honestly can't remember, and I have to look at the numbers to make sure it's right.

Cueta Guiding Star wrote:

As a dog owner, it upset me to write it! As a storyteller, it made sense though...

Hey - story wise it was brilliant, and beautifully written.

Luckily for you, Ysanne brought a bison for everyone to think about murdering before they get around to your dog ;)

Out of curiosity, how many more gardens/whatever need to be built in order to have enough food to feed the new extant population without scavenging?

Thought: We can trade some of the community's goods at 3:1 for other labor. What if we try to convince everyone to use the new goods to build gardens? It would make each garden the equivalent of 17 goods (pretty steep), but would create 12 gardens (we PCs would have to pitch in 1 good). 43.2 more food/day after the gardens are complete, bringing the total food production of NS to 74.6. In effect, the 50 new settlers can pay for themselves, food-wise, and we get a bump in food for the time being.

While it is great to have new settlers, until we get our society producing a food surplus, every new soul in NS is in some ways a burden. At some point, our average citizen is going to need the space to create capital for themselves or for other community projects, via teams (which ideally fall under our control). The best way for this to happen is to get our food situation stabilized as quickly as possible. Though the trade of goods for labor is inefficient, maybe the initial shot in the arm it gives allows for us to create other teams, allocate more people to foraging, or the creation of a "middle class" in Newspring - people that can begin to pursue other aims than food production?

Looks like would need to feed 187 (186+dog).

Plus a bison. A bison is 4 food/day?

I'm wondering if there is going to end up being an "every family has their own garden" type situation... or if a certain number of citizens are going to become full time farmers and give Mr Thayer his dream of a peasant underclass.

Seems like at the moment that peasant underclass would be the scavengers doing dirty, dangerous work to find the food for those building the defences and providing 'protection'. Being tied to the land would actually be a step up for them...

Indeed. We work on food and shelter while the Thayers hold the military power and Ingwe holds the keys to leisure time with his still. We get our society functioning and those groups reap the benefits, either via directly held power or wealth and influence. Sneaky NPCs...

In the Campaign Info tab, hidden in the "Ridculous Notes" tab are the languages I'm using for various languages. Which I've updated without a lengthy diatribe about why slovak is a terrible language for giants.

Would it be better if we focused on generating labour to use those goods to build the gardens? Maybe we could even generate some labour at the meeting.

In the Campaign Info tab, hidden in the "Ridculous Notes" tab are the languages I'm using for various languages. Which I've updated without a lengthy diatribe about why slovak is a terrible language for giants.

Ha! I'm certainly open to suggestions! I wanted something that sounds a little Jabba the Hutt-ish ;)

Also, iirc, we've been using Esperanto for halfling, and Igbo is Polyglot.

Would it be better if we focused on generating labour to use those goods to build the gardens? Maybe we could even generate some labour at the meeting.

I'm certainly open to it.

On one hand , there's enough goods there for 40 gardens (144 food, enough for us to have a surplus with foragers, and just about break even with our existing farms/gardens/fishers).

On the other hand, we need to come up with 160 labor for those gardens (1600 gp!).

Sorala makes about 2 gp a day, conservatively - let's call that average for all our pcs since she's got a high modifier but can bring in more gp on average. If one of our 2 pcs is always crafting, that's 12 gp/day. It will take our PCs 133 days to accumulate enough capital to get all those gardens up and running - adding in time for gp -> capital conversion, we're looking at over 5 months, perhaps as much as 6 to get everything up and running. Just in time for winter, but then we still need shelter.

Our citizens, let's call them SIMS, need to be somewhat self-sufficient, I think. Right now, we've got a few teams, and a lot of people out foraging. If we sink all the capital into gardens right off the bat, we're still breaking even at half-rations, food wise. In twelve days (or more - does converting capital take time or is it instant?) we have a surplus of SIMS with nothing to do. We could put them into teams under our control, accumulating more capital, or they could be let free to do what they want (likely building shelter) or perhaps directed in a way that would benefit the community.

Nerk, if our very skilled people can accumulate 2 gp/day, how much can an average SIM create in one day?

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that it is unskilled (no ranks) labor taking ten - 1 gp. 50 gp/day could then be put towards community projects - capital to be turned into food, shelter, etc. I don't know if this would work out quicker, but perhaps it would, and it would give us more flexibility in building things, and get us away from playing Gnomes and Gardens for the next 6 months game time. Enough gold could be created for the creation of a garden in two days (that gold would still have to be converted into capital and the garden built however).

I dunno, I'm just brainstorming here - feel free to poke holes in this argument. I'm sure there are many.

A bison would be at least 100 food.

Oh, you meant to feed it?

hmmmm.... 4/day, given that it can forage for at least some of its sustenance.

Also, with a garden producing 3.6 food/day and farmland producing 4, I don't feel so bad requiring one person per garden/farm to work on them. As an added bonus, when you get 5 online, I will allow you to make those 5 people into a team of Laborers at no gp cost, though you'll still need the 1 influence/2 labor. You'll need to spend the gold to upgrade them, should you wish to, and they will NOT be generating food.

Would it be better if we focused on generating labour to use those goods to build the gardens? Maybe we could even generate some labour at the meeting.

I suppose another way to tackle this could be to let our food surplus dwindle while our 50 surplus settlers focus on labor creation.

Assuming 1gp per settler per day unskilled labor, that would be enough gp for 5 labor/day plus one day to convert that gp into labor. With the 200 goods from the Wasp's Tail, a garden could come online in 14 days, with an additional garden every two days, until we use up capital. Every 5 gardens a forager team could be peeled off to work the gardens and be a laborer team. 94 days to get the 40 gardens online, if my math is correct. After 80 days, SIMS could be directed elsewhere. Of course, this is only possible if:

Nerk, can 1 citizen can be directed to earn 1 gp of unskilled labor by taking 10 for the day?

EDIT: Nevermind - one citizen can earn .5 gp unskilled in a day. So we're still looking at about 160 days to get all the gardens up and running.

Also, with a garden producing 3.6 food/day and farmland producing 4, I don't feel so bad requiring one person per garden/farm to work on them. As an added bonus, when you get 5 online, I will allow you to make those 5 people into a team of Laborers at no gp cost, though you'll still need the 1 influence/2 labor. You'll need to spend the gold to upgrade them, should you wish to, and they will NOT be generating food.

Just making sure that I understand correctly - The laborer team in effect functions as a manager for 5 farms/gardens AND a laborer team at the same time?

In game terms, they'd be spending some of their days tending to crops, and then pulling together for part of the day to build barns, dig wells, etc. (or whatever improvements the community decides is needed, as represented by gp -> capital)?

I will factor in the bison and dog to our population when I get the chance, busy day today.

Discount laborer team woo! We will have 5 farms and gardens up and running next in-game day, in fact.

I really don't like converting capital due to the cost being so steep. However, there are a surplus of goods in the world. The Portress alone has 100's of goods laying around. So.. maybe we should just bite the bullet and get these things rolling, a la Cueta's suggestion.

The problem is convincing these people to do such. So far our ruling style has been "neutral" I'd say. Council makes over-arching decisions for the good of Newspring (rationing, agreement with hobs, etc), but ultimately leaving everyone to their own devices. (If we went full on Lawful, I can imagine a communist sort of set up where we controlled all of the capital production and use, but this group doesn't have the diplomacy, intimidate, or ethics to pull such a feat off.)

So at the meeting we'll have to roll the dice and see if we can diplomacy everyone into planting gardens, like the filthy peasants we are.

Pretty much, you have it right, Cueta. It's probably pretty unrealistic for one person working alone to be generating enough food to feed four in a primitive agricultural setting, but the pseudodragons said it was ok.

Part of it is that there are ... um ... a lot of people milling around with no identity and no purpose. I don't believe they've been sitting on their hands, but I do like the idea of starting to pin them down, by saying these are farmers, these are soldiers, these are fishersentients etc.

@ Vallen: also realize that the majority of the people here have their own agendas. Some (Manari) are pretty well understood, but a lot of people are here to escape the power structures of the old world. Right now, you have a sort of frontier communism, but that won't last forever.

@ Vallen: also realize that the majority of the people here have their own agendas. Some (Manari) are pretty well understood, but a lot of people are here to escape the power structures of the old world. Right now, you have a sort of frontier communism, but that won't last forever.

Indeed, and I am looking forward to the political intrigue that will start to happen as we move into the kingdom-y portion of the game. The PCs, at least, are probably going to have to put their foot down at some point, and assert leadership in some fashion.

You don't have to. Thayerport is still the dream, after all....

So, on scale of 1 to flying evil birds, how scared are the newcomers going to be of Tomag? Because until he gets to open his mouth, they're probably going to be like OMG BIG SCARY HALF-ORC.

I really don't like converting capital due to the cost being so steep. However, there are a surplus of goods in the world. The Portress alone has 100's of goods laying around. So.. maybe we should just bite the bullet and get these things rolling, a la Cueta's suggestion.

I'm beginning to view it as the necessary start-up cost to get things rolling. Like any other investment, we're going to sink a lot at the beginning, but the benefit is a quicker return on investment. Just by looking at people used: 50 new settlers - 12 people to tend gardens = 38 people that can be used for unskilled labor (19 gp/day) or turn into teams*. Plus we'll have laborer teams (1.2 gp / team / day) if we decide to invest the capital in them.

*Wierdly, per the rules, a team is generally actually less effective than letting an individual work at .5 gp/day. A team of laborers makes about .25 gp / person / day, craftsmen just about break even (but fall a little short of the .5gp / person / day that each member would make unskilled, and most other 3+ person teams fall way short. The only teams that make more per day are the one person teams (acolyte, etc.), and those teams are expensive to get going. I'm not sure how to reconcile this.

Indeed, and I am looking forward to the political intrigue that will start to happen as we move into the kingdom-y portion of the game. The PCs, at least, are probably going to have to put their foot down at some point, and assert leadership in some fashion.

I'm looking forward to this too. It will be interesting to see what the people want, and how our PCs respond to it.

they're probably going to be like OMG BIG SCARY HALF-ORC.

Hopefully. I can't think of a better way to keep all these newbs in line ;)

when you get 5 online, I will allow you to make those 5 people into a team of Laborers at no gp cost, though you'll still need the 1 influence/2 labor

Upon rereading, I'm a little confused by this. The gp cost is there in that we still need to spend the capital to form the team, correct?

You don't have to. Thayerport is still the dream, after all....

Somewhere, in the hills to the east, Cueta suddenly gets very nauseous...

What if we used half our new goods to start new gardens now (taking the conversion hit) then generated labour to use the rest over time? That would get us a bunch more food in the short term and shorten our timeline to use it all.

Sounds good to me, Kal'Tos. More food is generally always okay in Tomag's book, because he didn't get as big as he is by eating half-rations. D:

Sorry Cueta, I haven't looked at the downtime rules for a while and was confused a bit myself. When you earn capital, you need gold, but to turn farmers into a farming Team of Laborers, you won't need the gold to pay for the capital. It's a special case, as I'm discovering that the real obstacle to building is the gp cost, which would be negligible in an ordinary campaign.

The newcomers are going to be terrified when they see Tomag coming, especially when Koschei and Vasily attack him with a hail of acorns.

Internet ate my post again!

Things to consider:
(A) these are 'modern' goods, including steel tools. We might be able to trade them to the Hobgoblins at a better than 3:1 ratio
(B) those crossbows (for instance) are worth about 350gp. If we can sell them for 160gp we could buy 16 labor
(C) with extra goods, extra food, extra not-starved-people and a huge ship to transport things there has never been a better time to settle Portress.

Untrained laborers earn 1sp/day in the core rules. If they're aiding someone's roll they add +2, which translates as 2sp/day (of which I guess they get one). A laborer team actually makes better than this, with 5 of them making +12, but only if they're rolling for themselves. The more of them you add the less effective they are (2.4sp/day each at 5, but 1.3sp/day at 10)

Trained laborers have a craft, profession or perform and make way more of course.

Perhaps if scavengers are going to be used long term it would be worth training and equipping them from laborer teams into hunter (archer) teams.

@DM Nerk: and my goats! (See equipment in profile)
In all seriousness, if we're using animals for labour or production (like milk or an ox-cart) I can see needing to feed them, but if they're just hanging around can we leave them to graze? They do eat different food to people/dogs. Obviously there'd be a limit to how many could graze in a hex.

with extra goods, extra food, extra not-starved-people and a huge ship to transport things there has never been a better time to settle Portress.

I sense much wisdom in this statement.

A) The hobgoblins are interested in weapons at this point. They want glaives to kill the black birds, and they want their home back. Blaidd might be talked into trading modern goods for labor but I would give the success rate at maybe 50%, if Nerk allows it to have a better conversion. I do not think Blaidd is going to want to bring a bunch of hobgoblins over to Newspring to act as cheap labor, though. They are proud.

B)The hobgoblins will most likely not want the crossbows, they use compound shortbows and are perfectly happy with them. You could get someone to ask Rhyfwer if Blaidd would be interesting in acquiring any crossbows though. Personally, I don't think we should be giving away weapons right now.

C)This is a pretty good idea, except if we leave the bay and try to settle the Portress, we will be boarded by demon-worshiping blood-thirsty sea-dwarves before we get there. We will have to be ready to defend the ship. Nerk said as long as the Portress has guards it will be free from most trouble (such as random encounters). Also the Portress is quite beat up. Everything needs to be repaired and cleaned from the gardens to the forges to the sea-gate. When we get into the kingdom-building portion we will absolutely inhabit the Portress, and probably the PCs will move there to assist with restorations/turn it into a military base of sorts. I don't think the time of the portress is now, personally.

A) The hobgoblins are interested in weapons at this point. They want glaives to kill the black birds, and they want their home back. Blaidd might be talked into trading modern goods for labor but I would give the success rate at maybe 50%, if Nerk allows it to have a better conversion. I do not think Blaidd is going to want to bring a bunch of hobgoblins over to Newspring to act as cheap labor, though. They are proud.

B)The hobgoblins will most likely not want the crossbows, they use compound shortbows and are perfectly happy with them. You could get someone to ask Rhyfwer if Blaidd would be interesting in acquiring any crossbows though. Personally, I don't think we should be giving away weapons right now.

C)This is a pretty good idea, except if we leave the bay and try to settle the Portress, we will be boarded by demon-worshiping blood-thirsty sea-dwarves before we get there. We will have to be ready to defend the ship. Nerk said as long as the Portress has guards it will be free from most trouble (such as random encounters). Also the Portress is quite beat up. Everything needs to be repaired and cleaned from the gardens to the forges to the sea-gate. When we get into the kingdom-building portion we will absolutely inhabit the Portress, and probably the PCs will move there to assist with restorations/turn it into a military base of sorts. I don't think the time of the portress is now, personally.

Agreed on the hobgoblin issues.

Haven't we decided that the dwarves are going to attack us at some point? if so wouldn't it be better if we fought on our terms, say with all our best fighters in one location where we know the dwarves will attack us?

Sure, if we meet them on the sea and kick their asses with the PCs, that would be great! Cueta would definitely love it, because we could steal their ship afterward. But how many dwarves on board one of those sloops? Could we take all of them? Also, the crew of the Wasp's Tail probably doesn't even want to get into a fight, nor does their Captain, unless we've got something in exchange for them.

Sure, if we meet them on the sea and kick their asses with the PCs, that would be great! Cueta would definitely love it, because we could steal their ship afterward. But how many dwarves on board one of those sloops? Could we take all of them? Also, the crew of the Wasp's Tail probably doesn't even want to get into a fight, nor does their Captain, unless we've got something in exchange for them.

The PCs, some of our NPCs that are combat capable, the crew of the ship. If we agree to give the ship/ items of value to the Captain (since gold isn't super helpful to us right now) we should be able to convince them. Several people can now cast Enlarge Person, Tomag enlarged should be able to crush people fairly easily.

Can arrows be fitted to fire vials of Alchemist's fire? That would be a rough surprise for the dwarves.

Is this based on the theory that the dwarven ship is waiting for us?
It may have left on the "not hanging around because of what's in the bay" theory of Vallen's.

Is this based on the theory that the dwarven ship is waiting for us?

It may have left on the "not hanging around because of what's in the bay" theory of Vallen's.

The dwarves are out there, Tomag and the other survivors of his ship were captured by them, only a few escaped. We anticipate the dwarves will attack us at some point. better to fight on our terms rather than theirs.

Did Tomag and the others see what weapons, armour and tactics were used?

Tomag may have, but Nerk would have to tell you about it. Was kind of a terrible awful no good really bad series of days for him and Zoriya plus malchiks.

Interesting question about dwarf tactics. If Tomag were here, he could tell you about it, but he's not, fortunately, so I have a little time to make it up.

Shortbows, lots of tower shields, even divide between dwarven longaxes and shield-and-ax. You saw mostly light armor, but they were on a boat. Heavy armor and falling into the water is a bad mix.

They went as a modified phalanx, with the shieldbearers fighting defensively while the longaxers did most of the killing.

Ysanne ... you were asking people to carry your buffalo?

HEY GUY, CAN YOU LIKE, CARRY MY BEAST OF BURDEN? HE'S TIRED AND JUNK!

Tomag is Vada purposely making himself scarce?

He's messing around in the fields right now. I figured he'd think of it as somebody else's problem right now, but he'll introduce himself in good time.

He's still a bit sore from Melilla's last beating, too.

Ysanne ... you were asking people to carry your buffalo?

Being dramatic, not expecting them to carrying the bison :P

Although handling an animal with this many people around does take at least one hand.

Wow, a lot to respond to here.

(A) these are 'modern' goods, including steel tools. We might be able to trade them to the Hobgoblins at a better than 3:1 ratio

Perhaps. I assumed we'd be doing less trading with the hobgoblins than with each other ("Al, I'll give you my crate of nails if you help me turn the soil for these potatoes.") I suppose Nerk could adjust the ratio if he was feeling really nice. If we trade with the hobs, that's going to mean a trip north with our goods in tow, which may or may not be worth the time, depending on what the hobs say. We should really train some carrier pigeons.

(B) those crossbows (for instance) are worth about 350gp. If we can sell them for 160gp we could buy 16 labor

We could always ask one of the hobs in town if they thought Blaidd would be interested in a trade.

(C) with extra goods, extra food, extra not-starved-people and a huge ship to transport things there has never been a better time to settle Portress.

Cueta was all about moving everyone to Portress when we fist laid eyes on it. Since she found her sister there though, she's pretty horrified by the place. She doubts that Melilla would willfully relocate there, and if Melilla doesn't go, Cueta doesn't. Sorala could be persuaded to head out there with the PCs to establish Portress, however.

We may have to take it back from other hostiles by now, though. We very helpfully cleared the kuru out for whoever wants to move in.

Untrained laborers earn 1sp/day in the core rules.

Right you are. Upon further reading, they earn that in the UC rules too. It is just really skilled players (PCs, I imagine) that get the 5sp/day option. That makes teams much more attractive.

Perhaps if scavengers are going to be used long term it would be worth training and equipping them from laborer teams into hunter (archer) teams.

I'd very much like to do this. I assume they would operate like a craftsman (fishersentient) team. Three people bringing in 7 food/day taking 10.

Cueta would definitely love it, because we could steal their ship afterward.

If we're talking about capturing a ship, Cueta's all in. She'd not be so interested in sinking one though, unless there's some strategic value to doing so (scuttling it at The Pinch, for example, depending on how shallow the sea bed is there, and how wide The Pinch is). But, if you all want to try and capture the ship, Cueta will set about making it happen with gusto. And even if you want to sink it, she'll go along with the plan. You all did go into Portress for her, and Cueta's big on repaying favors.

I, Chicken, am not real enthusiastic about the idea though. Sinking a ship just to sink it seems a little counterproductive, in that we'll certainly lose valuable combatants, and we don't have many to spare. I think we lose any war of attrition at this point in time, and would prefer to play the avoidance game against numerically superior foes (which, there's got to be, what, 50-100 dwarves on a longship?). If we have to fight, fighting on our terms in our territory would be preferable.

Plus, if we capture a ship, I'm not sure we can hold it. We have one team of guards on the beach and no defensive structures. As much as I hate to say it, I just don't think we're at the point where we can consider hoarding sailing ships.

But how many dwarves on board one of those sloops?

Weren't the dwarves on a longship? My search-fu is failing me. I guess they could be on this ship that was chasing the Wasp's Tail, but it could also be elves (they travel by sea too, it seems, if they sicked the ghouls on us). Or it could be pirates, some undiscovered group, even potential allies.

Also, the crew of the Wasp's Tail probably doesn't even want to get into a fight, nor does their Captain, unless we've got something in exchange for them.

I'd think so. The only situation(s) where it may be worth it to them to fight, is if they are being quarantined in the bay by the other ship, and want to bust out, or if there is something so valuable on board that it is worth the danger. With her respect for Sandra Thayer, Pomadae strikes me as more a merchant or do-gooder than a pirate, so greed may not even be a factor. Admittedly, we hardly know the lady.

Nerk mentioned the ship that was chatting the Wasp's Tail was sloop-rigged. It may very well been the elves instead of the dwarves. The dwarves seem to have nautical dominance so the elves would need speed. Who knows at this point.

Hmmm. The Captain has sailors. Those might be teams. If so they can build labour up. I wonder if we could convince her to sell or trade us the labour.

Hmmm. The Captain has sailors. Those might be teams. If so they can build labour up. I wonder if we could convince her to sell or trade us the labour.

I did a bit of rough spreadsheeting to see just how bad things are going to get. They do get pretty grim.
Vallen: are you the master of spreadsheets?
Australia has a big history of cattle and sheep herding (droving). I know America had cowboys. Decided to see if that would actually help.

I would call myself competent at spreadsheets, at best.

I'm up for building some more teams so we can generate gardens faster. Whether or not our forested beaches can support drovers is up to Nerk, however.

Hmmm. The Captain has sailors. Those might be teams. If so they can build labour up. I wonder if we could convince her to sell or trade us the labour.

I did a bit of rough spreadsheeting to see just how bad things are going to get. They do get pretty grim.
Vallen: are you the master of spreadsheets?
Australia has a big history of cattle and sheep herding (droving). I know America had cowboys. Decided to see if that would actually help.
** spoiler omitted **
Basically we could get 28 Drovers almost for 'free' in terms of break even date.
Turns out the system does support that sort of pastoralism.
Part of me wonders if that sort of droving could also be used to generate food, but in the interests of not becoming a nomadic tribe I say we ignore that.

I'd think we'll need Nerk to weigh in on the droving. Right now we have Don's goats and a bison. More goats live to the north. Wolves and giant pigs to the east. I don't know if Nerk would let us just build teams and the animals just magically appear, or if we'd have to go goat wrangling first. How many goats, minimum, can a drover herd?

Another thing that I have been thinking about is about people. We've got about 180 people in NS.

12 PCs
2 Thayers
Manari
Jaysin
Walton
Sai
Melilla
Bern
Ingwe
Francis Cullen
Jarla
Horn'Toss
Garross Stonejaw
Children (10?)
Deeshka
3 goblins
Eli
Tatya
Katapashi with spear
Balis
Caydenite priest
Elisa Kralish

Some of these above people could probably be folded into teams, or area already part of teams, and some are going to be independent actors. Let's say, including the PCs, we've got 30/180 that are players and not available for a team structure.

We've got 60? foragers? 90/180

Tomorrow, we've got 5 farmers/1 labor team. 95/180

One fishersentients (3); one beach guard (5), one stonemason team (3); Sandlock clan (they're kind of an unofficial cooking team; 5); Thayer team(s) (10 guards is my guess). (121/180)

We've certainly got enough left over people to support 28 drovers.

We've got about 60 people to play with, as to building teams, putting on farms, etc. Of course, the more gardens/farms we build, the more foragers get freed up as well.

Another thought: we've got a beautiful, charming noblewoman with a particular skill set, that I am sure is going to be a pain in our collective arse down the line. Why not put her to use now, while our interests align?

We've also got a captain that seems to be respectful of, or smitten with, or naturally inclined to listen to/follow Sandra. That captain has a ship and a crew. Harpy cave has 10 goods. Portress has 100 goods. The Harpy wreck has perhaps 10 goods, if it hasn't washed away by this point. Those goods need a home. If we're not going to settle Portress right away, right now seems to be a great time to grab all those goods and get them back to NS.

Sandra shouldn't take much convincing to try and convince Pomadae to give our A Team a ride to Portress and back. If anyone is going to convince Pomadae, it is probably Sandra, perhaps with some aid anothers from Vallen and other diplo types. We get some use out of Sandra before she possibly becomes an antagonist, Sandra gets to fulfill her sense of noblesse oblige and the community gets another 100 goods that can be turned into something or converted to other capital. It is a win-win-win.

Bonus points: a ship full of dwarves/elves/pirates/whatever is waiting for the Wasp's Tail upon exit from the bay. The Wasp's Tail has the A team with it to help deal with that problem.

EDIT: Taking Kal'Tos's suggestion earlier, and assuming we bring over 110 goods, even converting half of our 310 goods to 51 labor and influence would go a long way towards building some teams/gardens, and leave us with 155 goods for future construction/teams (minus what is used in immediate construction/teams). We may even get the chance to claim some of that for ourselves (Sorala would like an alchemist lab, the beach needs a guard tower, as examples).

I approve of this plan Cueta. We get to use the ship while it's here, we get some goods, do some adventurin', and get to see what kind of horrors await us on the open sea.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if we do this, the elves are going to notice, and may increase our threat level towards them. They tested our defenses and saw we have teeth, so they are likely carefully monitoring what we're doing (perhaps even magically, though scrying spells are higher-level and the good ones aren't available in P6). If we start cruising around in a ship it might alarm them enough to commit resources to squashing us. Just a thought.

The question is, does Vallen go... he's kind of busy with the glaives... but he would want to go to the Portress... but Istiel wants to see the coast... I'll have to think about it.