Adventures in Oakstead

Game Master Foxy Quickpaw

"Don't look at me. I didn't ask for these two and still you brought them. I just wanna make sure that if you do it again, you do it right."

Jewel works with Gertrud to learn more about properly butchering the animal. She also asks about other animals since she assumes that the carcass would be similar. Also, is there any difference in butchering a male versus a female animal?

"You did indicate that we needed to replace the meat for that late night meal for the guys at the pond. But getting two was Clara's idea."

"Yeah, we thought it was part of the deal! And then we got extra sausages," Tarjun gestures at the extra boar - as if it totally justified doubling the work load.

Jewel glances at her brother with a bit of a grin. Good sausage was always appreciated.... "Maybe we could learn how sausage is made, and how the rest of the meat is processed. I know you don't like the work farming Tarjun. But you enjoyed the hunt. And you might find that the work butchering and processing the meat is OK too. Clara doesn't have any interest in that, or even staying here for that matter. It might help to have someone that can do that down the road...."

"First this needs to hang for a while. In two days this will be turned into meat and saussages."

"It was easy to get two, so why lwt the opportunity slip. That is advance payment for our next saussage parties." Clara explains.

"But that's just the meat for the sausages. There's still the work to do to make it into sausage. And I doubt that there's a spell for that!"

"Thank you Mrs. Johnson. So we can come back for the next part in two days? Morning or afternoon?"

Jewel glances at her brother with a bit of a grin. Good sausage was always appreciated.... "Maybe we could learn how sausage is made, and how the rest of the meat is processed. I know you don't like the work farming Tarjun. But you enjoyed the hunt. And you might find that the work butchering and processing the meat is OK too. Clara doesn't have any interest in that, or even staying here for that matter. It might help to have someone that can do that down the road...."

Tarjun just looks at his sister weird. "I like eating stuff," he explains. "I'm not sure I like the actual killing and gutting part."

Jewel gives the same look back at Tarjun. "And you won't be sure until you try it. You know you don't like farming. Plowing the fields. Harvesting the crops. It's hard work but it has its rewards. But you know you don't want to do that to earn your living. You like being in the woods though. Maybe hunting, and processing the animals for meat is something that you might like when you finish growing up? We're all getting old enough to be thinking about that. You're not a trained Bard so I don't think you should count on your music making a living for you. It might have worked when we were traveling, but what if some of that was because we looked like hungry children?"

"Even if he were good he would make no living here playing his flute." Clara comments.

"I have no plans yet for in two days. Come when you like."

Jewel gives the same look back at Tarjun. "And you won't be sure until you try it. You know you don't like farming. Plowing the fields. Harvesting the crops. It's hard work but it has its rewards. But you know you don't want to do that to earn your living. You like being in the woods though. Maybe hunting, and processing the animals for meat is something that you might like when you finish growing up? We're all getting old enough to be thinking about that. You're not a trained Bard so I don't think you should count on your music making a living for you. It might have worked when we were traveling, but what if some of that was because we looked like hungry children?"

"Whaddaya mean?! Just watching Pa make stuff for the cattle and the fields was enough for me to know I'd like it. And I was there, helping out knocking out the boars and dragging them back to the Johnsons to be gutted! Ya don't have to wait twenty years to know if something's your thing or not."

"Anyhoo, instead of thinking about our professional futures, whadda we do?"

"I'm hungry." Clara states.

Jewel ignores Clara for now, focusing on Tarjun. "Really Tarjun? You always talk about how hard the work is and wanting to get away and avoid the chores. If you don't feel that way why do you say it? And if you do feel that way then it isn't something that you want to do for life. I figured that since you like being out in the woods maybe hunting might be a better option. Am I wrong about that too? Were you just along to help 'knock out' the boars? Or did you enjoy the hunt?"

Glancing at Clara Jewel shrugs. "Hungry for a meal? Or a snack? If just a snack why don't you grab a sausage?"

"Talking them to sleep and then trying talking the others into fleeing isn't what I would call a hunt. That is closer to asking the boar to jump on your plate and become steak."

For once, Tarjun looks at Clara with gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, what she said. The things I normally find in the woods to carve ain't bleeding and squirming, you know. I don't like killing animals. I went with y'all 'cause it was something Mrs Johnson wanted us to do - and neither you or me had it in us to kill 'em, in the end."

"That bein' said, I'm hungry too. I could go for picking fruits off trees. Not sure I wanna have a sausage just yet," he shudders.

Surprised at the direction the conversation turned Jewel is happy again with Tarjun's suggestion. "That's a good idea Tarjun. And we know the woods well enough for it. But let's get a basket and pick enough for a pie, and for a nice snack!"

"And we should watch for a long stick to knock the fruit down. Clara and I already used our fly and levitate for the day. I can ask Chirp to knock some down for us too, but she's a bit small for the task."

"Weasel can get apples too." Clara suggests and looks for the direction to leave, before anything here turns into more work.

"We don't need equipment to go and eat some apples in the woods, Jewie!" Tarjun sighs dramatically - if rather affectionately.

Sometimes, his sister was just like an adult; planning everything head as if she had a house a run, a herd of twenty cows to milk twice a day, and five kids to feed.

"I can climb up and down the trees and pick them for us. The basket's a good idea."

Jewel runs to the barn yelling over her shoulder, "Did you miss the part about bringing some back for a pie, or maybe two! We're not just going out to eat one or two. And any other fruit we can find will be good too. Maybe some cherries?"

Where are you living, that you can harvest cherries and apples at the same time?

"Less talking, more walking. I'm still hungry."

"But we'll have to make the pies then!" Tarjun protests - a bit uselessly. "That's more work!"

"We need to learn proper magic that can solve the necessities of living." Clara suggests while already walking towards the woods.

"I'm pretty sure it's called "having someone else to do stuff for you", Tarjun follows with a sigh.

"That is for muggles. I know there has to be magic where you simply Abra Kadabra a Magnificient Mansion into existance, with everything provided that you need inside."

That's what I don't know about fruit trees. Haven't been able to raid a cherry tree sine I was a little kid. And I got whipped with a willow branch when I broke on of the branches off of the tree climbing it.... Clothing protected the skin, but it really hurt!

"You make a pie? Since when? You know either it'll e mom or me baking them, and probably me since I want to. But I enjoy it so I don't complain....

'I don't complain much because I do sort of enjoy it. Just not the waiting part....' she thinks to herself.

"That might work when you become some rich, powerful wizard of the land! But that's a lot of hard work too!"

Did you see the Reddit post about a wizard using Magnificent Mansion as an exclusive restaurant to earn money? All the food created by the spell and served by the unseen servants. Silly though to think an Archmage would waste his casting powers for that. But otherwise interesting.

I have another character who is the offspring of a powerful wizard (think 'level-18 retired adventurer') and a madrid.

Imagine having to start at lvl 1 when your parents have traveled across planes and bend reality to their will on a daily basis.

And hey, who wouldn't teleport back home after a long day of work if they could?

"Not sure I'd like to spend my whole life in a mansion," Tarjun concedes. "It'd get boring after a while."

"Having the house cleaned just by snapping my fingers would be enough."

And there we have a grat topic to discuss: What would you do if you had pathfinder magic at hand?

"I didn't say I want to spend my whole life in a Mansion. I'd go out a lot, visit places. But at the end of the day, I'd snap my fingers and everything I need and quite a few things more that are just really nice to have would be in place without me working for it a long tiring day of hard labor."

Personally Mage's Magnificient Mansion is one of my top priorities for the spell list. Endless dungeons wearing your spells out? Take a rest on the spot with no risk, all the comfort and continue the next day well rested.
As for real life: There are few spells that would beat the magnificient mansion. Rent a garage or a garden with a shed for cheap and put the entrance to your mansion there. Depending on the prices in your area, save a few thousands on cost of living a month. Take a few trustworthy friends or relatives in and make a living off it. Admittedly it would suck to move all your stuff in and out on a regular basis to recast the spell would be annoying, but if a recasting prolonged the existing mansion even that would be solved.
Besides the obvious teleportation spells that would make travelling really easy (and that would quickly break laws for passing borders) another really useful spell in my opinion would be tongues.

That's why I've always loved the Sanctum power in the Mythic rules. People say it's a waste of a Mythic ability. But you bring your home with you wherever you go, as long as plane travel isn't blocked. You can't transport people since it shutters them out when you close the door, and summoning a new door closes the old one. But all of your stuff stays inside. And, your familiar can come and go on its own.... (if you're crazy enough to have a familiar under the mythic rules!)

"Not bad," Tarjun concedes. "But being alone in a mansion would get depressing after a while. A small house is enough for me - as long as there is a garden!" He grins. "And as long as magic can take care of both for me, obviously..."

Natural Allies, so I can summon a cat to pet whenever I want.

More HP? More cats.

I also like Wandering Weather. I do like sunbathing.

"So are we gonna make a pie or not? It ain't like there's much to do..."

"So far we don't have even the berries to put into the pie." Clara scoffs while walking into the direction she thinks they should be heading.

Jewel smiles and takes the lead. "Cherries.... I think I remember seeing a cherry tree when we were looking for the goblins that took that fire scepter way back. We can check for that. If I'm wrong, or if they're not ripe we can look for some other things. Apples would do nicely, or we can look for any of the berries that grow on vines? There are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, golden berries.... Just watch for bright colors"

Jewel tries to remember the actual route that they had taken.... Survival?: 1d20 ⇒ 15 and does surprisingly well. They get the few miles out and reach a familiar hill top. Jewel points Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13 "I'm pretty sure I saw a cherry tree that way." But, when they reach the tree there aren't any cherries remotely close to red.

"Well, we can still look for other options for the pie? Or?"

EDIT: Initially, Tarjun was going to be the voice of reason and point out that you can't find ALL of those fruits within the same season... But after that nat 1, I am withdrawing that personal knowledge from him

Tarjun thinks about what could be added to the pie...

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

And, ideally, where the fruits could be found.

Survival: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5

"We could pick up some red berries off the bushes!" Tarjun offers. "We saw plenty along the way, and I can't recall tasting any! Maybe Ma will like to bake something new!"

Knowledge(Nature): 1d20 + 9 + 1d6 ⇒ (16) + 9 + (2) = 27

"Which red berries do you mean? I only saw three kinds of poisonous red berries on the way."

Jewel glances at Clara, surprised. "I only saw one! I guess I was looking up too much. But the one I saw wasn't something you'd want to eat, unless you wanted to be really sick for a couple of days!" She glances around. "I really wanted to make a pie though. Let's just keep on for another mile or two. And if we don't find any, we change our route back so we aren't just covering the same area. Maybe we'll get lucky?"

What season are we at? I guess spring as we have not ripe cherries?

Late spring/early summer, probably

"Sounds like we don't really have a plan. But I guess it's fine with me."

"I don't think the red berries are poisonous, though," Tarjun stubbornly argues.

"How about blueberries? They should be ripe already. Why don't we have a blueberry field in the village? It's stupid to have to search for that stuff in the woods."

Knowledge-Nature: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12 So, childish hopes!

"That's a good idea Clara. If we find some blueberries maybe we can dig up a couple of the plants and bring them back. I'm sure Dad would know where we could plant them to start our own berry patch. And maybe strawberries too! And let's come back by that cherry tree and cut a couple branches. We could get them to root and plant them in our little grove. Maybe if I pray really hard for it Erastil will grant me a spell to make the tree grow faster...."

"You don't plant the branches. You cut them, look for a nice tree in the village that you don't need, and then you remove this trees branches and put the cherry tree branches in. And next year you have a cherry tree full of cherries." Clara explains.

"You are the Erastil guys. And you make me look like a farmer." she doesn't look happy about this situation.

"You can do that. But then you are basically just rooting the branch in another tree. If we take small, new branches you can root them and create a whole new tree. Let's cut a dozen or so, on our way back so they won't have time to dry out. When we get home we keep the cut end wet so it will grow new roots. Then we'll plant them."

"We could also harvest some of the cherries. They're too green to eat. But the pits are still seeds that can grow." This is basically true. But the result isn't always what you might want. The pit is the combination of the "mother" tree and the pollen from the "father" tree. The blend could be completely different from the type of cherry harvested.

It does take more than one season to have cherries though....

"If one prayer to Erastil is all it takes, how come Pa and Ma farm at all?" Tarjun objects. "I don't think it's ever worked."

"Tarjun! You know that isn't how it works! One prayer? I know there's magic to make plants grow, but I don't know how it works. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't replace the plowing and planting. Divine magic can create food, but it doesn't make fields full of crops!"

"You're the one who said that you could make trees grow faster if you prayed hard enough!" A beat. "I mean, I know you got magical powers and all, but that still seem very optimistic to me."

"Or pessimistic, actually. What if it's just one tree at a time? How come we can't make whole fields grow faster with magic, so people don't starve?"

"Because when you do magic, you can as well magic the finished meal. Why make a field grow with magic and then still harvest, mill and bake it into bread? You can as well just double the size of the field if you want more food. Making it grow faster wouldn't save any work."