Adventures in Oakstead

Game Master Foxy Quickpaw

Jewel laughs when he hears Tarjun's words. "Flowers! So we climb to the roof and throw flower petals down on Mom and Dad when they get home! They'll love that!!!"

Then she gets serious. "Nobody here of course. But a bow has to be worth a few gold at least. Mrs. Johnson would know better. Most of the work is simple stuff that we already do. Gather the branches. Store it proper so it dries right. Trim and carve it to shape. Polish it nice. Make the cord for it. Takes time but not a lot of hard work."

"As for selling them, Dwayne ships the lumber to the city to sell. We could make arrangements to get our bows there to be sold. I'm sure they'd want some of the money, but Dwayne wouldn't cheat us. And, the customers wouldn't have to know that kids made them! Or, we could go and visit Clara's grandma again...."

"She has caught a bad case of adult. She is at work and earning money with her thoughts again. I suggest we hit her over the head and lock her away til she recovers."

Tarjun can't help but laugh at the suggestion. "Nah, I can agree that our Jewie can't turn off the grown up concerns, but we ain't gonna hit my sis. Out of question !"

"What'd you even want the money for?" he asks his sister, genuinely curious. "Unless we go to a city ourselves, there ain't much we can buy here."

Jewel grins at Clara's idea. Hit her over her head and lock her away? "Good point. What would we do with the coin? Well, you're right that there's nothing here that we'd need it for. But we are growing up. Wouldn't it be nice to have other instruments for you to play Tarjun? And I'd like to have some more books, about Erastil and the other Gods, and maybe about other stuff. And if we ever leave here won't you want to have money to buy equipment that we might need?"

"But I also thought it might be nice having you guys working along side me while I work on my bow. Erastil uses a long bow and I wanted one for myself so I'll know how to use it!"

"No," Tarjun shrugs. "I can't play any other instrument. And I'm happy with my flutes. I made 'em myself."

"Buying equipment is somehin' else, but if you don't know where you going, then what the hell are you gonna buy, you know?"

"Books is something different," he concedes. "But the traveling guys that come around once in a while ain't exactly carrying a library."

"Look, I think both Clara and I need a break from chores - and so do you, to be honest, you've been working to cool down, right?"

"So how 'bout we prank our parents, and then we start working on a longbow? Compromise and stuff."

Clara raises her finger half heartedly, but then changes her mind.

If mom isn't in the mood of showing us how to make bows after the prank, that's more work avoided.

Jewel narrows her eyes at Tarjun's words. He was right, but.... "What sort of prank are You thinking about?"

Tarjun hadn't thought that far. Generally, he preferred to leave the thinking to someone else. "Pelt them with flowers, like we suggested?" He shrugs. "I dunno. What spells do we have in common?"

"It's gotta be something all of us can do, so we can compare who reacts best!"

"Or we could do this the old way," he grins. "Like pretending that we misplaced their tools somewhere, or have a tea party with a bunch of animals in. You think Sandara the bunny can hold a spoon?"

"We could make another pie, except instead of berries we out somethin' else. Like potato peels."

"Or," his grin grows a bit wider. "I could make one of them farming tools, and carve it just right so it looks exactly like one we already have - except it'd break on the first try. Then we go and fetch the real one!"

"Come on, girls, don't tell me you ain't got any ideas!"

"Put s&~* in front of the door, cover it in leaf or hey and set it on fire. Then knock on the door and run away."

"Meh. It's been done before. Probably they've done it themselves. They'll know the trick."

"Bucket of water on a slightly open door?" Clara suggests. "The tea party sounds fun, but woudn't most of tehm run away when someone walks in on that?"

"If we could turn Jewel into a bear and she then stands in the kitchen cooking, that would be a surprise!"

Jewel chuckles at the last idea. "Now if I just had the ability to shape change into animals like a druid! That would be hilarious!"

"You kinda look like one already," Tarjun nudges his sister affectionately. Even if he and Jewel got along well, there was something universal about teasing your sibling that not even the Branston kids could resist.

"The bucket might fall on their heads. I can just make clouds appear and drench 'em."

"Well? They're gonna be home before we decided anything!"

"I don't want to do it anymore. We talked it to death."

Tarjun throws his hands up in the air in frustration, then gives a defeated shrug. He appears to think for a few seconds, before snapping his fingers. Immediately, stormy clouds appear out of thin air overhead, and drench the three children to the bone, before disappearing. "Well, someone had to be pranked!!" he cries out, after spitting out a few mouthfuls of rain water. "So it's done! Now what next?"

Cast Create Water

Clara gasps as the is hit by the cold water. It takes a second to regain her composure while standing in a puddle. Then she starts laughing and shaking herself to get the worst of it off.

She gives Tarjun a thumbs up.

"We're broken. We have no ideas what to do for fun. We might as well start working and be adults."

Jewel is shocked by Tarjun's action but immediately starts laughing with Clara. They should have expected it....

She shakes some of the water off and gives the same thumbs up with Clara. "Deserved. Now if we had magic to speed up drying off!"

"Well, if we want to be adults and work.... How about working on weapons, or tools for us? I still want to work on my longbow. Tarjun, Is there a really fine whistle or something that you'd like to have? Something that would sound better than the little one that you carved in a day way back whenever? Clara? How about you? As you've said, we don't have money or a place to spend it if we did. But is there something that you want that maybe we could make?"

Jewel will want to be watching/working her bow for however long it takes to make it. It won't be masterwork because she doesn't have the skill for that....

"UGH! I hate adulting. I prefer making people laugh," Tarjun retorts.

"Yeah, yeah, I can make a whistle..." he stares off in the distance. "You know what this place misses ? A band. Like the one on the pirate ship! And somewhere they could play in the evenings, and everyone would gather round with a beer or a couple of sausages, and listen to them, and dance or tap their foot for a while, and then give them a bit of money so they can do it again the next day."

"What shall we do with a drunken sailor,
what shall we do with a drunken sailor,
what shall we do with a drunken sailor,
earlay in the morning." Clara intonates one of the songs she remembers. But somehow it sounded more guttural and less squeaky sung by the pirates on the pirate ship.

That doesn't hinder her any.
"Shave his belly with a rusty razor,
shave his belly with a rusty razor,
shave his belly with a rusty razor,
earlay in the morning."

"That's a bit cruel, actually," Tarjun comments off-handedly. It doesn't prevent him from joining Clara on the chorus: "Hooo-heyy, and up, she rises, hooo-heyyy, and up, she rises, hoooo-heyyyy, and up, she rises, ear-lay in the morning!!!"

A little lightbulb then seems to lit above Tarjun's head. Which is weird; they aren't commonly used in houses yet. "Hey, how about I make an instrument for you and Jewie?! We could make a concert!!"

Jewel does her best to not roar with laughter at the lyrics. Was this something they'd learned on the ship, either when she'd been locked up or working in the galley? It sounded like a fun song.

"Instruments? Only if you can teach us how to play. I'd be willing to learn...."

"There might even be some songs for worshiping Erastil.... and Desna. We can ask our parents."

"Well," Tarjun grimaces. "I can only play the flute. And sing a bit."

"Ugh - we're not gonna sing just hymns, right? Clara and I ain't into religious songs!"

"I want a drum!"

"That's gonna require a bit more than carpentry! What do they put on top of a drum? Animal skin?"

"Hymns? Good point. Hmm.... We only know a few. Dad might know more. I wonder if there are any priests in the city? That's another...." Jewel's eyes glaze over as she thinks. "Sorry. Distracted again."

"Animal skin? Yes. It probably would need that for the tops. The skin would need to be thin and stretched evenly across the drum. Clara? What does your parents do with skins when they butcher? I don't know if the skin from a boar would work. ??"

"Wait, hold on; is it just the skin, or like, does it have to be leather?"

"Well, of course the skin would have to be cured. Not hard like leather though. It would have to be scraped thin, and then stretched over the drum head."

Assuming it would be a knowledge roll to guess at this, and untrained since we've never done anything like it? knowledge-tanning a hide, or instrument making?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

"Doesn't matter, my mom can do that. And the rest of it is wood, right?"

"Yeah, the shell's made out of wood. We just have to find something easy to carve and that would make a good sound!"

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16 To pick something suitable?

Craft (carpentry): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

"And you need sticks to beat on the drum. That should be a hard wood, and straight."

Knowledge-Nature for wood in the area fitting that description?: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

"Why? I can play the drum with my hands!"

@Tarjun Are you going for half a meter of a tree trunk carving it out? Or what's the plan here?

I think that Clata's drum will be closer to a bongo than something she can play death metal music with, let's be realistic :P

"So we go see the lumberjacks again and take some wood? It's gonna need a lot more than what we can find on the ground!"

I don't think death metal classifies as music. There was a game back in the days, I think it was called Veil of Darkness. There you encountered someone making music and when you came there the first time and heard it from afar the description given matches for death metal too: "Someone is trying to scare some animal, or dying in great pain."

"So how would you make the shell? Use a hollow tree? Aren't they usually dead and rotten? Or would you carve the core out of a branch?"

I've already made the craft rolls and failed so Jewel doesn't know and is curious about how it should be done....

"Nah, the shell can't be from dead wood, it'll never work," Tarjun corrects his sister.

"Best way to go around it is, slice thin planks off a tree, and then find a way to glue them together. We put the whole stuff the whole thing into a mold to give it a round shape, and you've got your shell."

"We'll have to see with what tools we have!! I dunno if carving one straight from the tree would work. But I can give it my best!"

Jewel thinks about Tarjun's words. Carving thin planks off of a live tree? Wouldn't that be like skinning a live creature? Did trees feel?

"Let's go to the lumberjacks and get a log to work with. I don't think it would work to carve strips off of a tree.... What kind of wood do you want to work? Maybe Dwayne will let us use tools?"

"Birches are pretty common round here. They could work."

"What are you calling me? And no I'm not going to work - I'm postponign that as long as possible!"

"What the - it ain't even pronounced the same!!"

"You don't have to do s%+#, okay? Just play around the lumberjacks while Dwayne gives us a couple of tools."

Jewel suppresses a giggle at Clara's words. "Tarjun knows that you're human Clara.... He might like you better as a dog though."

"Aren't we going to have to dry the wood before you can work it? Just like I'm having to do with my bow. Otherwise it would warp and crack."

"I ain't sure. She'd probably be mean, even as a dog."

"Sure, we'll dry it first!"

"That will take forever!" Clara protests but trots along for a lack of better ideas.

Dwayne's excitement to see you again seems to be purely internal as no sign of it shows on the outside.

Jewel walks up to Dwayne with a smile. "I promise that we're not going to try and take any of the men night swimming or working on another project. But they did really good work at the pond. Have you checked it out?" Seeing that he is serious she stops and nods. "And we don't want to waste any of your time so we'll be quick. I've checked the saplings and they're doing good. In a few years I think we'll have small groves growing of whatever wood you need for your customers. The hard woods grow slower of course. Heck, you explained some of that. But they won't all be mixed so you have to cut what you don't need along with what you do.... And I'm wasting time talking nonsense. We need some wood. It would be scraps for what you cut. A couple short limbs from a birch tree? And are there any tools here that Tarjun could use? Split it into thin pieces? We wants to make a drum.... for Clara."

"She wants to become a slave galley drummer? If she wants a job 'encouraging' my guys to cut the trees faster she is welcome." Dwayne replies with a smirk.

"We don't cut birches. They have too thin trunks to make lumber from it. You'd have to cut one yourself. See if one is marked."

"As for tools, we do lumber. Not furniture, we don't have those tools."

"Nah, we've already slaves on a pirate ship," Tarjun replies, absolutely deadpan. "No drums for us though."

"Anyone we could borrow some tools from, or are we gonna have to make 'em ourselves?"

"Your dad has a tool shed. Have you checked there?"

A pause. "No. But I could."

"We're still gonna need something to fell a birch."