Ziggurat of Lost Souls: Mummy's Mask in the Burnt World of Athas

Game Master Thackery Baxter J Thorington

Bug has money. Not much, and she doesn't really realize what it is. She just knows other people carry coins and she wants to fit in.

Ok ladies and gents, I think our best bet in that case is to purchase 50 gallons of water and a barrel. (Barrel is 2 cp, 50 gallons would be 2 cp.) This would weigh 430 lbs. (400 for the water weight + 30 for the barrel), which I think Rilkus could carry lashed to his back. (Someone else would need to carry his backpack and blanket - probably me.)

I'll front the tiny monetary cost for the barrel and water.

We also need food. It's 1 cp and 2 lbs. for 2 days of food. We need at least 50 days of food to make it out there safely (and that could go bad if we get lost or hit a sandstorm), which would be 50 cp and 100 lbs.

If we do this, we will have enough food and water to get to the Smoking Crown, but not enough to get back. We would have to rely on finding valuables out there and then swinging by the settlement of Makla and trading for more food and water.

Note that our kreen doesn't take as much water, so that helps.

Also, everyone who has Survival skill has a chance to extend our supplies by finding grubs, lizards, cacti, etc.

Does this sound good? If so, I will mark off the costs, Rilkus will get a barrel with 50 gallons of water, and everyone on the team will get 10 days of trail rations (weighing 20 lbs) each.

DM: Normally I would, as a rain cleric, use magic to create water and help with this, but since that ability is gone, I guess I'm stuck just funding it out of pocket. Obviously you can't have create water as an orison; when I ran DS in 3e I just made it a 1st-level spell only available to clerics, druids, and rangers with access to the Water domain or one of its subdomains. But alas!
Does endure elements still exist?

cool idea.

endure elements doesn't exist except as a unique trait amongst classes/races i.e. "X is affected as though under the effects of endure elements"

as for the water dole: you're basically paying for the extra water needed. you get a daily ration of water, but this is above and beyond that

Right, I merely mentioned the water dole as part of the reason that water prices are low, even though DS is a setting where you're living in a super-hot desert all the time. The city-states have water infrastructure figured out. You can get enough water to survive, so demand for extra water is low and that keeps prices low. I would imagine that if you try to buy water from a caravan in between the cities or from a small free village in the desert, you'd pay a premium.

Ok, once everyone chimes in with what they are able to contribute, I'll subtract the cash from my sheet and we can add the appropriate food and water.

Darzus has money as well, to pitch in for food and water.

oh a few things
1) do we want to have a loot-mongering sheet on google docs? i'll make it editable by everyone, but i don't want it to be in charge of it (i'll also put in a thing about water and food since thats important)

2) i'll move things along once everyone's had a chance to chime in on the market thing. So, i'll update the game tomorrow night.

I have enough of it that I can pitch in for food & water and should probably get more supplies before we leave. Did we determine that somebody had handle animal?

I've checked everyone's aliases and nobody has Handle Animal.

Are there any trade caravans or explorers departing from the city and headed the same way we are (even if it's only part way there)?

If we can join up here in the city we can carry as many extra days of supplies as we will be traveling with them, and just piggyback our extra gear on their animals as payment for our protection.

Also, as a player I love the idea of having enough supplies to get us there, but not enough to get back. There's tons of drama in that.

I've checked everyone's aliases and nobody has Handle Animal.

Unlike me, you are not lazy :P

You only say that because you can eat us. ;)

Darzus likes the idea of using a caravan as long as he can and bailing out when trouble occurs. He is self-preserving CN after all.

Are there any trade caravans or explorers departing from the city and headed the same way we are (even if it's only part way there)?

If we can join up here in the city we can carry as many extra days of supplies as we will be traveling with them, and just piggyback our extra gear on their animals as payment for our protection.

Also, as a player I love the idea of having enough supplies to get us there, but not enough to get back. There's tons of drama in that.

.... i think this is the first time ANYONE in any game i've EVER been in or run has brought up the idea of hitching up with a caravan.

There are probably caravans leaving today.. i'll make a game post when i get home (sneaking posts at work) to make the rules official-like.

<-- smarter than your average arthropod

Smarter than the average mammal!

oh a few things

1) do we want to have a loot-mongering sheet on google docs? i'll make it editable by everyone, but i don't want it to be in charge of it (i'll also put in a thing about water and food since thats important)

2) i'll move things along once everyone's had a chance to chime in on the market thing. So, i'll update the game tomorrow night.

Google sheets works well for tracking loot. We can collectively update the sheet.

Ok, sounds like the total spend is 54 cp. Badr is contributing 11 cp, and Darzus says he has "some money" to pitch in. Darzus, let me know how much you can pitch in (zero is OK if you think Darzus wouldn't spend money on a bunch of people he has no reason to trust yet) and I'll pay the balance, and then we can mark up our sheets with our goods (plus we get the scene at the market with Badr, or course).

He would spend the money to remain safe and reliably accomplish the mission, and he would ensure that his companions are fed and watered so that they continue to help absorb the constant risk on the mission. He's fairly decent at seeing bigger pictures since he was removed from the street for his training in The Way. If you had just plucked him off the street (and say he were a rogue), then he would absolutely keep his money to himself :P

He can definitely contribute his 11cp. I guess we get to see how it goes communicating this with bug :) Darzus would just assume he doesn't have money and if asking him for a specific number isn't dead simple he would likely give up relatively quickly and just put in his 11cp, but we can see how that plays out in gameplay .

Just a heads up, I'm going to be away on a camping trip next weekend. So I'll be away from computers and probably with a bad phone signal all day Feb 10 & 11, US/Pacific time. I will likely be able to catch up late on the 11th.

checking in. nothing in game to add right now

I've marked off a total of 52 cp. That (including money kicked in by you other folks who contributed) covers our barrel of 50 gallons of water for our mul to carry, and the extra 20 to invest in the caravan to try to get this wealth-seeking dwarf to put us on board.

What was my part of the 52? 11 also?

I can do 20 as well for the caravan, but this elf is trying not to irk the dwarf by speaking....

Yes, you already mentioned putting in your 11. Here's the actual full breakdown.

Barrel with 50 gallons of water: 4 cp
50 days of food: 25 cp* (I previously messed up here and said this was 50 cp)

Total for supplies: 29 cp
That means you and Badr don't have to put in 11 cp, you just put in 6 cp, and I'll cover the remaining 17 (covering me, Rilkus, and Bug).

Then I paid 20 cp out of pocket to "bribe" the dwarf, and Badr and Darzus both agreed the same.

So, because I screwed up my math earlier (one day of food = ½ cp, not 1 cp), the total payouts for everything - supplies and bribes are:
Me: 37
Badr: 26
Darzus: 26

...assuming he wants the 20 cp bribes from us, that is. I'll hold Darzus' offer in escrow for now, and if he hesitates I'll up our ante with it.

Rilkus: Be sure to put on your sheet that you have a barrel with 50 gallons of water (about 400 lbs.).
Everyone else: We also have 50 days of food to parcel out. That's another 100 lbs. of goodies. I'm already at Medium encumbrance load.

So how'she this investment work, anyway? Do you get your money back when we get there' or after he sells some stuff? What'should the return rate?

Presumably we'll haggle.

My guess is, not knowing our DM or how he runs things yet, this dwarf has a Focus to make money or be a successful trader, so everything he does is done with that goal in mind. Offering him cash up front plays to that focus.

Additionally, he owns a caravan - he's rich! So he needs to save face. A bunch of random weirdos come up to him in the street, he's just going to go "Hey, okay, sure, you can hook up with us" with no job interview? He's a big boss! An important guy. We have to make it worth his while but we also have to let him appear to be in control of the negotiations. We know that this is a negotiation and we can walk away if we don't like the terms, but he can't let word get around that a bunch of randos off the street gave him terms and he just rolled over. Then everyone who works for him would want to negotiate for more pay and better terms, and he can't have that.

So my hope is, he can look like a gruff hardcase, he gets money up front, and we work out what the terms of the "investment" are. It's possible that we may "let it ride" and when we part ways at the Smoking Crown and he heads east, we just say "Yeah, uh, keep the investment and um... pay us out when you get back to Urik," with a wink and a nudge that maybe we'll never actually see him again. Or maybe he makes a good trade deal in Makla and we make our money back. I don't care either way as long as we make it to the Smoking Crown and get to do our job. Though admittedly it would be nice to turn a small profit, because we're going to need to buy more supplies in Makla too on the way back home!

I suppose it's also remotely possible that just offering the money is proof of our intentions and he'll accept us as guards (and me as a cook), but if someone offers you cash in Dark Sun I can't imagine that an NPC wouldn't take it.

Anyway that's just my thinking right now. We'll see how it goes when he makes his counter-move in the haggle here.

I kinda think that decision should have been Rilkus' to make. This is Athas though, so offering other people up as collateral certainly fits the setting.

I can see ways this could go really badly given the agreement. Wonder if we can get it in writing or something.

I guess if he tries to pull a fast one on us, we really can just kill them all.

*whistles in the wind*

Ya, i had Akiya do it because it's Athas.

It’s very Athisian to offer others as collateral. It’s also very Athisian to rip off someone’s finger and make them eat it.

Heehee very true

Ooo, I was out camping this weekend and was gonna say something upon return, but it looks like I've been pre-empted...

FYI, I'm away on a camping trip this weekend, 3/3 & 3/4 US/Pacific time.

no problem!
have fun playing in the woods1

*eats popcorn*

Sorry. back now

Also back :)

Happily here

Seems like GMs are getting the 2e blues after the recent announcement. :)

boyfriend's birthday was this weekend + friend drama... updating now

Hehe, I've got a couple of birthdays to execute this weekend. I know how that goes.

Heh, birthday executions :)

Checking in

Still here. Looks like the DM checked out. :/

Give them time. I think there's just a lot happening right now.

i'm back.. Sorry.

After spending three days in bed, i FINALLY can actually stay focused enough to run games.

No worries man. We're here waiting while life happens :)

ya.. .

So.. after the bomb threat that wasn't really a threat (seriously, who the heck leaves 2 suitcases in the school parking lot?), and twice-daily IEPs (one of which lasts like 3 hours) for an entire week, I come down with the flu, and end up in bed until now... *sigh* stupid life.

It is good to hear that you are on the mend!

FYI, I will be away on a camping trip starting Friday late afternoon, through Sunday afternoon (US/Pacific time). I will very likely have limited or no coverage to post. I'll be able to catch up late Sunday. Feel free to bot me from late Friday to early Sunday.

Glad you're feeling better GM.

Do Thri-Kreen sleep?

Glad you're feeling better GM.

Do Thri-Kreen sleep?

Thri-Kreen enter a torpor-like state. They're not really sleeping but go kind of like C-3PO and make a whirring noise before going on 'rest mode'. They don't move, or respond to stimuli readily. And, while they might see what's going on around them, they're really not processing the info so they can't respond to it.

so, the answer is "for all intents and purposes" yes.

FYI, I will be away on a camping trip starting Friday late afternoon, through Sunday afternoon (US/Pacific time). I will very likely have limited or no coverage to post. I'll be able to catch up late Sunday. Feel free to bot me from late Friday to early Sunday.

noted!! I'll bot as appropriate!