As Zip strolls into Dark Market Square, he reflects on the day’s event and the role he played. Maybe if I could throw my bombs farther, Zip mused, then I could wreak havoc without needlessly exposing myself to danger! But how? Crossbow bolts would be too weighed down by vials… Perhaps a crossbow/slingshot hybrid?
Grinning like a cat with a cornered mouse, Zip sets off to find either the results of someone else’s genius, or else the parts to build his own Launching Crossbow.
OOC: The Launching Crossbow costs 75g, so it falls under the prized category. If Zip is able to find one pre-manufactured, he’ll buy it and immediately go outside to start practicing his aim. If none are available, Zip will take the time to find parts for his new toy . If Zip needs to craft his own crossbow, he’ll also need to get ahold of the correct crafting tools (I would think the standard weapon-smith tools would be readily available at the guild hall); however, let me know how hard it would be to find masterwork quality smithing tools.
SO: let me know if I’m buying one or crafting, and if crafting, do I find the necessary tools, and if so, when do I start making my craft checks?
Also, how do we go about selling our nifty golems? I’m guessing most of our level 1 income is tied up in them; who shall sell them, pray tell?
Comments
DM: Zip begins to become agitated after fruitlessly searching the market for something, anything approximating the design he had in mind. Nothing. He has yet to learn about any potential weaponsmiths, but then again it would be easy to imagine they wouldn’t be bothered with hawking their wares when they could have some lackey do such a mundane task for them. Perhaps you could ask around to see if there are any skilled weaponsmiths?
As you walk about the colony you start formulating the design in your head. You’re pretty confident that you could build such an item by salvaging bits and pieces from some of the items that you spotted while on your search.
“Decisionsdecisions.Heythatlooksneat!...”
OOC: Nice! I love it. You have a couple of obvious options. A) Make a diplomacy skill check to gather information. B) Craft the item.
A) The diplomacy skill check is a DC 10 and takes 1d4 hours to complete. You have 6 hours to canvass the town, while still being able to make a craft check for the day or week. If you spend more than 6 hours gathering information it is too late in the night to get started on your project and you lose the opportunity to make a craft check that day.
B) Here’s the rules for crafting a Launching Crossbow if you choose to go with the crafting route:
To make you skill check follow this link , click on Roll dice, enter your player name, ancient irthos as the campaign, and roll 1d20+your skill modifier, and a comment on what the roll is for. The roll result is recorded in the history, and you can even post a link in your comment.
Forgot to add that on a successful gather information check you pick up a rumor on the whereabouts of potential trained hireling who could craft such an item. For every 5 points that you beat the DC by you also pick up rumors of another potential trained hireling.
A rumor will give you an idea on the general reputation of the npc, and the whereabouts of the characters location including how long it would take to track the npc down(usually just one hour). With rumors in hand you may approach the npc with any questions you have such as pricing, skill, and estimated time to complete the item.
Just realized after perusing rules once more that you can add +10 to any crafting DC to make it go quicker. It becomes riskier as failure means no progress, but success also increases the rate of progress by the result x 10.
Also listed information on the recovered golems in the wiki page under Loot History.
Quick ruling for how long a day’s worth of crafting takes, for convenience sake and the possibility of a second craft check, or being able to explore Gartanu:
Quickly – I craft. I’ll do the writeup, but here’s the link:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2548568/
After heading back to the market and quickly purchasing some components to get started, zip gets to work.(Zip spends 250sp on raw material costs)
Zip spends 3 hours crafting and makes 43sp worth of progress(20×15/7 rounded up.
Prized: crossbow, launching(5.73% complete)
IC: Zip finds purchasing his own parts for his new launching crossbow liberating – he will get to design it to his own exacting specifications. Arriving home to his work table, Zip pushes vials of chemicals aside into piles. Two previously unmixed vials spill onto the same part of the table, immediately igniting in a spectacular fashion. Conversation in the guild hall slows for a second as Zip races to put the flare out, muttering, Ineverthoughtofmixingthosetwo! I’llrememberthatfortomorrow!
After three hours of work, Zip has a working design and a sketched outline of what he wants his launching crossbow to look like and operate. But Zip feels impatient; the evening is drawing to a close and he has not made much progress. Zip heads out into the gather dusk to find some help from local smiths and laborers.
OOC: This is going to take forever. I want it ready by level 3, when I take the proficiency feat. Can I find a hireling to do the work, and get it done in the background while Zip adventures? I have another 3 hours; I’ll use them to look around for NPCs to help out. First attempt: 1d20=4. 4. Second attempt (if allowed): 1d20=13. 13. If neither of those are good enough, the final check: 1d20=6. 6. Boo.
As a side comment, I invested in the crafting skills because I thought we would have one week pass between each adventure. This would give our characters time to craft items (which is a universally time consuming task) as well as provide time for a logical level up training or reflecting session. To think that characters head out after one night’s sleep way more awesome than the day before is tough. (Thus, the new chemical narrative – my level up gave me an invention, and I took the more-explode variety.)
OOC: Sorry about the change to how time progresses. It felt odd that the adventurer’s would be spending so much time in relative safety as opposed to exploring the wilds. Although the campaign is slow paced at the moment I anticipate that as more of us run games it will pick up. DrunkenWolfStyle is going to be running a game soon(possibly this week, so you could even spend the entirety of the next day crafting or hiring crafters), and Calro is learning the ropes. Each session pushes forward the in game time to dawn of the next day and ends at dusk of that same day. If a player character does not venture out for the day, then they have all day to work on things. When you have multiple characters, sometimes a week can go by without adventuring out with them.
Your idea will definitely work. Hirelings, both trained and untrained are easy enough to come by. It takes 1d3 hours to locate any potential laborers. I’ll quickly roll 1d3 to see the results and generate some local smith and laborer npcs for hire. It takes 2 hours to find a handful of candidates. I’ll write up a description in my next comment.
DM: Zip heads back towards the marketplace to find some capable hirelings. It is not very difficult to get information on potential candidates, how accurate these rumors are remains to be seen. About an hour later and Zip gets some leads. Zip has enough time to pursue one of the leads and still have an hour left before he needs to get some rest. What should he do?
-The [[Military District]] is industrious. Zip hears that some of the best local smiths work there. The more skilled smiths tend to be too busy with their usual duties to take on more jobs. Fortunately Zip hears that there are plenty young apprentices who are always looking for work.
-[[Entrances to the Lower Levels | In the Lower Levels]] are not only the lesser houses, but also the outcasts, prisoners, and slaves that are bound to servitude. The nobles that dwell below are always eager for gold. A noble youth named Iledtio is said to be selling trained pact bound tieflings for a fair wage. Zip learns that the Half-orc is almost always found in his guild hall near the northern entrance to the lower level in the [[West Gate District]].
-In the [[South Gate District]] the popular [[Berotuttle Brews]] always has a growing list of patrons. It’s almost a sure bet that word of a skilled smith could be found there. At the very least a mug to crawl in.
Zip decides to check out Berotuttle Brews. He’s not sure that an apprentice could keep up with his written plans, though that will be his next choice, should the tavern not produce a weaponsmith.
He decides immediately, however, that the tieflings are out of the question. Zip still has nightmares about a raid on his home when he was in his teens (a young child in the span of elven lives). Demons poured over the barricades and nearly destroyed the settlement. One demon saw the young Zip as a juicy morsel and ran toward him. Just before the demon reached out blood stained talons and tore Zip apart, he saw a flash of light and heard a thunderous slam. The demon skidded to within three feet of Zip. He looked up, and saw a grim faced dwarf pointing a stick at the demon – a godling had shown up to defend the town. His young mind grasping to understand what was happening, Zip decided then and there that he wanted to wield that same power and protect the weak. Zip looked back and saw his own reflection in the eyes of the now lifeless demon; the image haunts him to this day.
DM: It feels late. The ever changing streets of the central plaza are dimly lit by the stalls and tents of vendors and craftsmen that are still packing up for the night. An odd assortment of phosphorescent fungi lamps, mage sun, and the flickering of torches casts lights and shadows of various hues, colors, and lengths across the reclaimed ruins of Gartanu. Terruizengan soldiers and porters mostly travel the street, small groups of guilders and nobles travel, a few appearing relaxed and uncaring, the rest carrying watchful demeanors in tightly knit formations.
Most of these groups seem to be either heading to or from Zip’s destination, a sturdy building constructed out of even flat stones and a deep reddish brown lumber, possibly devil’s husk. An intricately carved sign hangs over it’s yawning arched entrance depicting a pleasant imp face with mischeviously shifting eyes that occasionally dart from side to side. Berotuttle’s Brews, the only place Zip knows of that is alive from dusk until dawn. The pub is not as crowded as Zip had been expecting, which suits him just fine.
-At the bar a surprisingly tall gnome with long dull blue hair chats excitedly with a halfling with a thick heavy cloak covered in ashes and burn marks.
-In the center a loud and raucous group of dwarves and elves seem to be in the middle of a drinking contest. It appears someone is accused of cheating.
-In the far corner a large human with burns all across his forearms is sitting down with a nearly as large elf with soot stained skin, and a half-orc woman, her slight tusks being the specific characteristic betraying her otherwise appealing features. They seem to be discussing something jovially amongst themselves.
OOC: Finding a good trained hireling shouldn’t be too difficult for zip. Feel free to take collaborative control of the above patrons, or even add more npcs to the list. You can name the npc, give him/her a personality, either way he or she will be ready to work after a good night’s rest.