Will PCs in this AP have opportunities to craft?

[Fafnoir]

I'm currently running this campaign, and we're just about halfway through book two. My PCs have been nagging me about whether they should take crafting feats, and one is even building his character centered around scrolls. Judging by the second book, there doesn't seem to be much down time, yet at the same time, book three opens with a massive research session. For the overall campaign through all the books, will there be enough time to let my players craft without dire consequences?

[archmagi1]

Books 2 and 6 are really the only ones with an over-arching timeframe. Books 3-5 can happen over the course of months, as long as you don't meta the FP's group further along than they are (and w/o you killing book 4 boss they can't anyway).

As for Book 2, my group is approaching month 3 since the outbreak started, with much of that time spent crafting and doing enough stuff around town to keep the Panic from increasing. I didn't do any of the extra d4 panic for them taking downtime, cause that's not the way I GM.

[smc5230]

How did you guys handle panic level. Did you just tell them the town seems a bit calmer with less dangers happening less often. Or did you deliberately tell them "...and the panic has decreased by so many points what next?" I'm trying to figure out a way to not do the second part but still have them understand what they need to do.