Difference between pages "Pandred" and "Across Boknafjord"

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=== Pandred ===
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== Travel ==
 +
By three o'clock, the wind has strengthened even more, verging on a strong wind.  The sky is nearly overcast, but there's no rainfall yet.  The two masted sloop has slung your mule and donkey into its hold and the cart as well, stowed your gear and assigned you to bunks, about 22 in. per man.  As you get underway, the swaying of the ship causes you to swing and bump into each other, as you lay in near dark, one lantern swaying in your room.  The captain has ordered that food will be served after 5 o'clock, when the weather permits.
  
[[File:Battered_Fighter.jpg|thumb|Resting After Mimmarudla]]
+
By six, you've eaten, the temperature has grown brisk (in the high 40s F) ... but though you might expect a storm, the intensifying weather passes.  By midnight, the sky is clear again, the wind has slackened to a moderate breeze.  By morning, the weather has improved so that it is cool, though unfortunately the wind is still against you.  By nine in the morning of the 24th, you can see the southern peninsula of Karmoy.  By 11, you're there.  It takes an hour to unload your gear and set you ashore.  The sky is clear as a bell.
  
''' Strength 18/26 ''' - ''' Intelligence 11 ''' - ''' Wisdom 12 ''' -- '''HIT POINTS'''
+
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' I say load up the cart, hitch the donkey, and head northward along the road. No real reason to hang around the dock while daylight is burning. Are there any other passengers disembarking here?
 +
:'''The DM:''' Today, no.  The sloop is picking up two passengers, a young man and a woman, and a load of winter potatoes, three bales of wool and two tons of timber.  With this wind, it will be back in Stavanger in about 5 hours.
  
+1 To-Hit ________________________________ Maximum: 26
+
== Karmø ==
 +
The little hamlet of Karmø is nothing but three rickety docks supported by stone braces, half a dozen buildings and a 20 ft. stone lighthouse.  The road from here to Treborg is cobbled, smooth but rackety, with a dirt shoulder and wide enough for wagons to pass.  There's minimal drainage if it rains.
  
+3 Melee Damage __________________________  Current: '''26'''
+
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' Then let us be off! If there is rain I would like to make some headway. I will have spotty availability over the next few hours, but I'll work out the AP penalty for the donkey and post as soon as I can.
 +
: ['''OOC-DM''': to be completely honest, I'm somewhat distracted.  Full disclosure, my daughter has been in labour since 2 a.m. this morning and still hasn't -- as far as I know -- given birth.  Should be sometime today, however, because its the real thing]
  
 +
:['''OOC-PAN''': I have a new medication that pretty consistently drops me around mid-day, so I'm no stranger to needing to bow out for a bit. No worries, and take care of what matters.]
  
 +
== Travel ==
 +
'''The DM:''' Pandred's agreement assumed, the party starts off for Treborg at once.  The journey is very beautiful, with the road located high above a rocky coast, looking out over the fjord.
 +
: Can you please tell me the AP of the cart?  Additionally, looking at [https://tao-dndwiki.blogspot.com/2019/12/routes.html this page], can you tell me if you wish to amble, move normally, hurry or rush?
 +
:: '''[[Vafrandir]]:''' We will need to carry some things by hand, but I think we can get the cart down to about 900 lb, which would put us at 2 AP (slow, unfortunately) with the mule. Normal movement if possible.
 +
::: '''The DM:''' That's not bad.  It takes you 7 hours to reach Treborg (passing through some farmland on your way, but you see no other travellers).  That's a pay of 2 lbs. of food each.  By the time you reach Treborg, on a clear and sunny day, is it still cool and the wind has slackened to a light breeze.
  
''' Constitution 15 ''' - ''' Dexterity 14 ''' - ''' Charisma 13 ''' -- '''ARMOR CLASS'''
+
== Treborg ==
 +
The village is a transshipment point for goods throughout Ryfolke, this part of Rogaland.  It is a shelter from storms from ships heading to and from Bergen, and for fishing boats in the Boknafjord and beyond it.
  
+1 Hp/level _________________________________ <''' 2 '''> ''(Plate Mail, Shield)''
+
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' I assume there is not much here in the way of lodgings?
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' There is a hostel for sailors that have been rescued from ships.  It holds about 30 people, but it is little more than a wooden shed with hay for beds.  As you're not victims, there is a nominal fee of 3 c.p. apiece; there is stone bench to which you can tie your animals for the night.  There is no shelter for the cart.  Do you have a canvas to cover it?
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' No canvas as such, but several linen tents we could perhaps use. I'll go ahead and pay the fee since I'm thinking about it.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' What do you do on the morning of the 25th, when you wake?  It is 8 a.m., the weather is cool-to-pleasant, the sky is still clear from horizon to horizon.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' Our intent is to explore the wilderness hex to the east of Treborg. I see on the map that there is a track that branches off from the main "road." If there are any folk about, I'll chat to see if anyone has been up that way.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' That branch leads into the agricultural district there and then stops.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Pandred]]''': I'll ask around, and send Odds for that same purpose, about the countryside of Ryfolke, particularly up the road. Even knowing someone's cousin who lives up there might be useful.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' Though Embla would not know it, not being from around here, several members of the party would know that the farmers up there, just four miles from Treborg, would be gently friendly people.  Beyond the road there is the small forest indicated, and then stony fields between mountains somewhat taller than those of the Appalachians, about 7,000 ft.  Not many, of course, as the group is only 18 miles across; but the ground is barren and alpine once you climb above the forest and treeline.
 +
: Once you reach the end of the cart-track, the ground will be too rocky and uneven for your cart; you learn that at the top of the road, particularly in the mid-summer, trees are picked and logged out of the small forest and dragged down to Treborg, for shipment to Stavanger.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Pandred]]''': Alright. So the cart is no-go for now. The mountains seem difficult, but at least promising. I'll disarm and de-armor myself to ask a nearby farmers about the surrounding area, particularly the nearest mountains. What lives there? Has anything unusual happened lately?
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' If I live to be a hundred, I will never understand what players expect when they ask questions like this.  DMs are just too ready to dole out exposition on the flimsiest of premises.  What would a real farmer say?  "Those mountains?  No idea; haven't been up there since I was a boy, when we searched for Old Sven, who went up there after he killed his brother.  Cold up there.  Why would you be wanting to go up there, Mister?"
 +
: Prior to the Romantic craze in the late 1700s, no one ever went into the mountains just to hike around and see what was there.  We have no literature at all of any poet or explorer just "going up into the mountains."  It wasn't done.
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': Maybe, but frankly those people didn't have the benefit of living in a place where something like a Troll or a Giant was a real thing. If we had asked in Hole, they would have said something about some spooky wolves. Fuck if I know. I popped open the megalith page we originally used to decide on Mimmarudla, and here I am stymied by not knowing what Treborg is a stand-in for and understanding that your Norway's coast is really damn good, but not exactly 1-to-1. So while I '''can''' say that I'm reasonably certain there's barrows or megaliths within 30 miles, I have no better orientation than that. Has this farmer heard of "The Sewing Needle of Virgin Mary"? That seems like it'd be something notable, but we previously rationalized Mimmarudla's discovery with a Druid in the party, so I do not know the rules here.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' I've never heard of it, until you'd written it here, so you can't expect that I'd have put it into the mouth of a farmer.  Regarding my world's 1-1; yeah, well, never been to Norway.  The map that I worked off from to make this part of the world did not indicate that 200 meter separation of land between Rossabø and Storasund north of Avaldnes, nor any of that 1 km to 500 meter gap north of Kopernik.  So, I drew my "Karmøy island" as a peninsula.  My source material called "Kopernik" by a different name, because it was a much older source, 70 years old; so their researchers called Kopernik "Treborg."  As regards the needle, reading around, consider: in the 17th century, tourism wasn't a thing.  And there are cairns and stuff all over this country; no doubt, it's there, but it's just a curiousity leaning 9.2 cm next to the church, it's not something to go and see and it wouldn't ''mean'' anything except that it's old.
 +
: I'll try to explain this bugaboo of mine.  "Adventures" are not found by asking the locals where they are.  They are found by going there and finding that thing.  You didn't ask Høle to tell you about something interesting there; it was passed along to you because that was the story you found when you got off the boat.  The same thing applies here: I have no "story" for Treborg.  It is just a place.  Not every place is an adventure.  IF there's an adventure in the mountains, you will have to go to the mountains.  You can't always expect me to set up the adventure for when you get off the boat, and you can't make it happen by asking people for rumours.  If you go to a place, and nothing happens, you have two choices.  Make something happen, or go to another place.  Set yourself up in Treborg, count it a peaceful base, build a house, put your stores in it and then hexcrawl.  Or kill someone and leave.  Or prospect or whatever you want.  But don't try to make something "happen" or create a narrative by asking me, "What do random people have to say about the place I want to go?"
 +
: I should think that knowing there are trolls and giants would make them more insular, wouldn't you?
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': That's all fair. Can you understand from my perspective that not asking seems like negligence? If something were to happen to us on our excursion, something preventable by saying "Hey, you live a day of this thing, what's up?" and we hadn't done so, I'd feel even more foolish than I do during this exchange? You might view it as wasting time, but for me at least it just seems like due diligence. The answer "Never been." is disappointing maybe, but it is AN answer.
 +
 
 +
== OOC ==
 +
Pandred, your response, that you're seeking to avoid the preventable, and not do something foolish, and thus perform your due diligence, is in your own words, "all fair."  So, let me deconstruct that.
 +
 
 +
If your real person went to the supermarket, wishing to obtain the best possible produce, you wouldn't say to the manager, "Is there anything I should know about the produce aisle?"  Questions like, "Has anything unusual happened lately?" is not the way that we human beings speak to one another daily.  The question presumes the grocery manager understands the context of your speech, or that the farmer understands that you're an adventurer in a D&D game and that you're going up into the mountains.  But, the farmer doesn't KNOW, from the context you're giving, WHY you're asking, "what lives up there?"  Without any context — and I'm not granting any context, because the farmer isn't a game construct, he's a ''farmer'' — you sound like a crazy person asking the question in precisely that way.
 +
 
 +
Now, let's suppose you said, "I step up to a person and introduce myself, saying 'My name is Pandred.  I'm just up from Stavanger and I've never been in these parts before.  My friends and I were planning on exploring the mountains.' "
 +
 
 +
First off, you'd be tempted to add, "Is there anything you can tell me about the mountains?"  But the obvious answer from a stranger would be, "Why are you asking me?  What would I know about it?"  But just say, you DON'T add anything else.  You just give your intentions.  One part of you might think, I should explain why I'm telling him this, or he won't say anything.  Or you might think, if there's something dangerous up there, the farmer won't tell me, because I'm a stranger and why would the farmer volunteer information?
 +
 
 +
I would argue, the farmer would DEFINITELY volunteer information.  If there ''were'' something dangerous up there, the farmer would say, "My gawd, woman, don't you know about the Snarfblag!?"  Because no common, everyday farmer would want anyone to go to their death that way.  The farmer would warn you, and because it's a small town, the farmer would tell everyone, and they'd come forward and tell you, "Don't go up there, the snarfblag will get you!"
 +
 
 +
If they don't say anything like that, it wouldn't be because they don't care.  It would be because the truth is, "Sure, why shouldn't you go into the mountains?  Sounds difficult, but to each their own."
 +
 
 +
The tendency is, I think, to always assume that I'm going to lead you to some place and then have a wizard pop out and absurdly kill you with a 14-die fireball, out of the blue.  That every hook, from Mimmarudla to Høle or wherever, is a deliberate set-up to fuck over the party, because I get my jollies watching TPKs.  I've been running online campaigns now for 10 years, and not once have I ever done a TPK.  The worst fight that has happened were those firebeetles, where three 1st level party members got killed, but that wasn't me; the two that lived did so by running away; if everyone had recognized the danger when it was obvious, they would have all run away early and probably all survived.  But they stayed and fought and counted +1 bonuses like that alone would win the fight for them, and it went very badly.
 +
 
 +
I am not interested in hurting people.  No matter what, if there's a 150 hit point red dragon up there, if Baalzebub is sitting on a throne up there making flies as big as houses, there is zero chance that there won't be an opportunity to see it, back the fuck out and run down the mountain.  Players don't get killed because I screw with them.  They get killed because they think the enemy is the Toad, when it's actually the Demon, and they single-mindedly decide to do stupid things when the pressure is on.  They get killed because AFTER seeing it's Baalzebub, they think, "Oh, now that I know, I'm sure Alexis won't kill me, so I'll go down and talk to Baalzebub and strike a bargain."  I will ALWAYS give you warning as a DM as to what you're getting into.  I won't give you plot armour.  Players will be allowed to see what the risk is, but what they do AFTER seeing, that's not my problem.
 +
 
 +
I swear and I promise, if you tell people that you're going to those mountains over there, and there's a reason not to go that these people know about, they WILL tell you so.  Cross my heart and hope to die.  But if you shoot out context-less phrases and presume the locals know what the hell you're talking about, they'll cock their heads, blink, and think, "I'm talking to a crazy person."
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': I 100% understand.
 +
 
 +
== Treborg Countryside ==
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': I'd like to get started on exploring the mountains while we have food. "Barren" is not ideal for keeping us supplied, but if we get a decent vantage, maybe we'll find something, even a few valleys over. The cart may not move but I can still lead a mule with food. Do we want to leave someone to watch the rest of our supplies here, or go back to Treborg and set up a proper place to store it?
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' [[Pandred]], we haven't stated our action to go, so we're still in Treborg, as far as I know. I am in favor of storing it the supplies in the village, somehow, until we can return. Otherwise I agree, let's explore the mountains: and if nothing is there, we'll either make something happen or leave!
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': I had interpreted Alexis' description of the friendly farmers outside Treborg and the mention of the end of the cart-track to mean we had traveled there. Going back I see I was mistaken. Good catch.
 +
 
 +
: '''[[Embla Strand]]''' [OOC sorry to be so late to this - I hadn't seen there was a new page up] An expedition into the mountains will be quite an undertaking. Let's establish something of a base. We've a keg of ale and plenty of food, and I certainly have a fair amount of coin. Why don't we see if we can get the folk here to pitch in and help us build a house?
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' I've no argument with that if we have the coin. We're on no schedule.
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': After my refund I'm not doing so bad myself, so this sounds like a fine idea.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' Correct.  I have not heard anyone say they were leaving Treborg.  I was giving a description of the landscape as might be learned from the locals.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' There is plenty of wood around; no one in the party has any housebuilding skills, but I'm certain that there are people here who could help.  Can you give me an idea of how much money you'd like to spend?  A 15 ft. square, single-beamed roof house with fireplace and foundation costs 189 g.p.; adding a 10% builder's fee, that's 18 g.p., 14 s.p. and 5 c.p.  Would you like it on the road, north or south of town, towards the sea or against the woods?  How much land would you like to purchase?  You can find the price of land listed under the Town Market on your Stavanger price list.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' Is the land price per acre?
 +
:'''The DM:''' Yes.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' I am in favor of forest land near the road to the north. A single acre should suffice for now. What would be our options for clearing and selling the extra timber? Also, how long will this take to build? I ask so we can consider our resupply options.
 +
:'''The DM:''' You will observe there is an entry for clearing timber per acre; without a sage ability for selling goods, you can reap between 20-50% of the wood's value per acre you clear.  The cost of hiring a woodsman is 8 s.p., or ½ g.p., per day.  Which means you will probably operate at a loss.  You can do the woodcutting yourself, but there is a chance of accident and it will take longer than 10 days, and reduce the cost of the wood sold by 20% (due to the poor job done).
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' The house I described would require 3 months to build; you can double the builder's fee and have it completed in 2 months; if you quadruple the builder's fee, you can have your house completed in 5 weeks and 5 days.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' To clarify the day and time, I assume you're asking around to get answers for these questions.  The builder's name is Anders Hagen.  It is now about 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the 25th of May; you spent one night in the hostel and I assume you all spent your copper for that.  The weather is cool, the sky is clear and a gentle breeze is blowing from north northwest.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Pandred]]''': Does adding our own labor to either the woodcutting or the building decrease the time to complete those tasks, or would we only get in the way?
 +
: '''The DM:''' You would most likely get in the way.  You might consider that those woods would be more valuable to you as hunting ground than as wood.  This [https://tao-dndwiki.blogspot.com/2018/04/foraging-sage-ability.html page needs some rework], but once you obtain foraging from your logistic study, and I figure out the rate of food per acre searched, you will do better selling or using it to support yourselves.
 +
:: '''The DM:''' Obviously, the more acreage you buy, the better your potential food supply.
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': I can chip in for an acre of forested land at 39gp. How many do we think we actually want? Embla's father was a farmer, do we think we can benefit from the quite-cheap tilled land?
 +
 
 +
::: '''[[Embla Strand]]''' I have amateur Logistics, and thus the foraging sage ability. Consequently, let's go for a larger area - a half-dozen acres, perhaps? And I'd like to expedite the building to take only 2 months. That'd run to about 461 gp, or 115gp and 3sp each. How does that sound? I can sow crops, but that'd be a full-time job for Embla.
 +
 
 +
:::: '''Pandred''': I only have 73gp. If someone can chip in the extra 42gp to cover the rest of my share, I'd be fine with contributing my store to that total.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' I think I will go with one day of foraging = 1 acre searched, so that 6 acres would provide you with 6 days foraging per month (as it would replenish).  Likewise, 1 day of hunting would mean 10 acres hunted over, but the replenish time would be every week.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' incidentally, I worked on one of puissance sage abilities last night: '''[https://wiki.alexissmolensk.com/index.php/Close_Drop_(sage_ability) Close Drop]'''  Please note it and remind me should you drop any weapons.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' I cannot ask for any pledges from Marcule, but the character does have 1,100 g.p. that he can draw upon in credit.  When he's able to return, you could make arrangements for him to cover the cost and refund his share of the money.  Unfortunately, he cannot draw his money in Treborg, it is too small.  He would have to return to Stavanger.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' I have a small bit left over but not much, [[Pandred]]. I assume we'll also need lodging costs until the construction is complete?
 +
: '''The DM:''' you had mentioned tents?  The temperature at night hasn't shown much chance of getting less than brisk (40s) and is generally as comfortable at night as during the day.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' I've just finished a description for the sage ability, [https://wiki.alexissmolensk.com/index.php/Gain_Proficiency_(sage_ability) Gain Proficiency].
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' Yes, we have plenty of tents, so that's taken care of. If someone can pick up for Pandred, I think we are in good shape to start. 6 forested acres total, 2 months build time.
 +
: '''[[Embla Strand]]''' I can pitch in the extra funds. We might want to draw on that credit to improve the place (it's not very big, and we will probably want more space soon), but that's a matter we can leave for after the completion of the current construction.
 +
:: '''[[Embla Strand]]''' Scratch that, I only have 146gp. We need another 11gp.
 +
::: '''[[Vafrandir]]:''' Now that I can do (just barely).
 +
 
 +
== The House ==
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' Here's one to consider, now.  The size of the house will enable you to store 69 tons of goods.  Each person that eats, shelters and sleeps there will need 4 tons of that space.  Objects that have empty cubic footage, like a bed, will take up 62 ''extra'' lbs. over their base weight '''per cubic ft.''' of space.  From that, without having to lay out the interior, you should be able to figure your living arrangements and storage.
 +
: '''[[Embla Strand]]''' So, with room for 8 people, we're down to 37 tons. Each bed is roughly 6 tons and has room for 2 people, so beds for all 8 brings us down to 13 tons left. That's not going to work long-term. Fortunately, it's nice out and bound to stay habitable outside for a while yet, as we're heading into summer. We'll need a second house asap, I think.
 +
:: '''The DM:''' Did you calculate for cubic footage above and below the bed, to a 10 ft. ceiling?  I get the same number (12,090 lbs.) near to yours, for a 6.5 x 3 ft. bed to a ceiling 10 ft. high, I'm just being sure we're on the same page.
 +
::: '''[[Embla Strand]]''' Oh, no - I just calculated for the bed (8' bedposts) My bad. The bed description says 6x4 on the price table, not 6.5x3.
 +
:::: '''The DM:''' No problem, I was just guestimating.  For that dimension, I get 14,880 lbs. or 7.44 tons.
 +
::::: '''Embla''': ... I like my numbers better... :) OK. Even at 4' wide, 2 people/bed is not super reasonable. At 1 bed/person, we get 11t/person, or 3-4 people per house with a reasonable amount of space left over (for a table, empty space to perform in-house work, etc.).
 +
:::::: '''The DM:''' consider bunk beds?  I can figure out a price for those.  And for narrower, 3 ft. wide beds.  You won't be able to buy them here, but you can figure for their dimensions.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' Bunk beds are a reasonable addition. But for now, ~7 tons of space is plenty.
 +
 
 +
'''The DM:''' I count at 11 tons a person, that's 6 persons for the size of house you're proposing. Point in fact to consider, a 20x15 foot house would increase the cost by 23.8% (in terms of wall & roof), but it would also increase the space/storage by 33% (300 sq.ft. over 225 sq.ft.).  That change would increase your carrying capacity to 91.8 tons.
 +
 
 +
'''Pandred''': Do we have the cash for that now? If not, good is good enough.
 +
:'''The DM:''' let me send a message to Marcule and see if he is willing to chip in (if he sees the email).
 +
::'''The DM:''' I have not yet heard back from him.
 +
 
 +
'''[[Vafrandir]]:''' Could we retcon it based on his input whenever he's able to return?
 +
:'''The DM:''' No need; he is kicking in 200 g.p.  Do with it as you will.
 +
:: '''[[Embla Strand]]''' Much of that 200 goes towards the initial house. If we are to build the bigger house, I think we'd need to tap into Marcule's credit. Since we have the pavilion tent, I think the small house will do for the moment.

Revision as of 11:01, 1 October 2020

Travel

By three o'clock, the wind has strengthened even more, verging on a strong wind. The sky is nearly overcast, but there's no rainfall yet. The two masted sloop has slung your mule and donkey into its hold and the cart as well, stowed your gear and assigned you to bunks, about 22 in. per man. As you get underway, the swaying of the ship causes you to swing and bump into each other, as you lay in near dark, one lantern swaying in your room. The captain has ordered that food will be served after 5 o'clock, when the weather permits.

By six, you've eaten, the temperature has grown brisk (in the high 40s F) ... but though you might expect a storm, the intensifying weather passes. By midnight, the sky is clear again, the wind has slackened to a moderate breeze. By morning, the weather has improved so that it is cool, though unfortunately the wind is still against you. By nine in the morning of the 24th, you can see the southern peninsula of Karmoy. By 11, you're there. It takes an hour to unload your gear and set you ashore. The sky is clear as a bell.

Vafrandir: I say load up the cart, hitch the donkey, and head northward along the road. No real reason to hang around the dock while daylight is burning. Are there any other passengers disembarking here?

The DM: Today, no. The sloop is picking up two passengers, a young man and a woman, and a load of winter potatoes, three bales of wool and two tons of timber. With this wind, it will be back in Stavanger in about 5 hours.

Karmø

The little hamlet of Karmø is nothing but three rickety docks supported by stone braces, half a dozen buildings and a 20 ft. stone lighthouse. The road from here to Treborg is cobbled, smooth but rackety, with a dirt shoulder and wide enough for wagons to pass. There's minimal drainage if it rains.

Vafrandir: Then let us be off! If there is rain I would like to make some headway. I will have spotty availability over the next few hours, but I'll work out the AP penalty for the donkey and post as soon as I can.

[OOC-DM: to be completely honest, I'm somewhat distracted. Full disclosure, my daughter has been in labour since 2 a.m. this morning and still hasn't -- as far as I know -- given birth. Should be sometime today, however, because its the real thing]
[OOC-PAN: I have a new medication that pretty consistently drops me around mid-day, so I'm no stranger to needing to bow out for a bit. No worries, and take care of what matters.]

Travel

The DM: Pandred's agreement assumed, the party starts off for Treborg at once. The journey is very beautiful, with the road located high above a rocky coast, looking out over the fjord.

Can you please tell me the AP of the cart? Additionally, looking at this page, can you tell me if you wish to amble, move normally, hurry or rush?
Vafrandir: We will need to carry some things by hand, but I think we can get the cart down to about 900 lb, which would put us at 2 AP (slow, unfortunately) with the mule. Normal movement if possible.
The DM: That's not bad. It takes you 7 hours to reach Treborg (passing through some farmland on your way, but you see no other travellers). That's a pay of 2 lbs. of food each. By the time you reach Treborg, on a clear and sunny day, is it still cool and the wind has slackened to a light breeze.

Treborg

The village is a transshipment point for goods throughout Ryfolke, this part of Rogaland. It is a shelter from storms from ships heading to and from Bergen, and for fishing boats in the Boknafjord and beyond it.

Vafrandir: I assume there is not much here in the way of lodgings?

The DM: There is a hostel for sailors that have been rescued from ships. It holds about 30 people, but it is little more than a wooden shed with hay for beds. As you're not victims, there is a nominal fee of 3 c.p. apiece; there is stone bench to which you can tie your animals for the night. There is no shelter for the cart. Do you have a canvas to cover it?

Vafrandir: No canvas as such, but several linen tents we could perhaps use. I'll go ahead and pay the fee since I'm thinking about it.

The DM: What do you do on the morning of the 25th, when you wake? It is 8 a.m., the weather is cool-to-pleasant, the sky is still clear from horizon to horizon.

Vafrandir: Our intent is to explore the wilderness hex to the east of Treborg. I see on the map that there is a track that branches off from the main "road." If there are any folk about, I'll chat to see if anyone has been up that way.

The DM: That branch leads into the agricultural district there and then stops.

Pandred: I'll ask around, and send Odds for that same purpose, about the countryside of Ryfolke, particularly up the road. Even knowing someone's cousin who lives up there might be useful.

The DM: Though Embla would not know it, not being from around here, several members of the party would know that the farmers up there, just four miles from Treborg, would be gently friendly people. Beyond the road there is the small forest indicated, and then stony fields between mountains somewhat taller than those of the Appalachians, about 7,000 ft. Not many, of course, as the group is only 18 miles across; but the ground is barren and alpine once you climb above the forest and treeline.

Once you reach the end of the cart-track, the ground will be too rocky and uneven for your cart; you learn that at the top of the road, particularly in the mid-summer, trees are picked and logged out of the small forest and dragged down to Treborg, for shipment to Stavanger.

Pandred: Alright. So the cart is no-go for now. The mountains seem difficult, but at least promising. I'll disarm and de-armor myself to ask a nearby farmers about the surrounding area, particularly the nearest mountains. What lives there? Has anything unusual happened lately?

The DM: If I live to be a hundred, I will never understand what players expect when they ask questions like this. DMs are just too ready to dole out exposition on the flimsiest of premises. What would a real farmer say? "Those mountains? No idea; haven't been up there since I was a boy, when we searched for Old Sven, who went up there after he killed his brother. Cold up there. Why would you be wanting to go up there, Mister?"

Prior to the Romantic craze in the late 1700s, no one ever went into the mountains just to hike around and see what was there. We have no literature at all of any poet or explorer just "going up into the mountains." It wasn't done.

Pandred: Maybe, but frankly those people didn't have the benefit of living in a place where something like a Troll or a Giant was a real thing. If we had asked in Hole, they would have said something about some spooky wolves. Fuck if I know. I popped open the megalith page we originally used to decide on Mimmarudla, and here I am stymied by not knowing what Treborg is a stand-in for and understanding that your Norway's coast is really damn good, but not exactly 1-to-1. So while I can say that I'm reasonably certain there's barrows or megaliths within 30 miles, I have no better orientation than that. Has this farmer heard of "The Sewing Needle of Virgin Mary"? That seems like it'd be something notable, but we previously rationalized Mimmarudla's discovery with a Druid in the party, so I do not know the rules here.

The DM: I've never heard of it, until you'd written it here, so you can't expect that I'd have put it into the mouth of a farmer. Regarding my world's 1-1; yeah, well, never been to Norway. The map that I worked off from to make this part of the world did not indicate that 200 meter separation of land between Rossabø and Storasund north of Avaldnes, nor any of that 1 km to 500 meter gap north of Kopernik. So, I drew my "Karmøy island" as a peninsula. My source material called "Kopernik" by a different name, because it was a much older source, 70 years old; so their researchers called Kopernik "Treborg." As regards the needle, reading around, consider: in the 17th century, tourism wasn't a thing. And there are cairns and stuff all over this country; no doubt, it's there, but it's just a curiousity leaning 9.2 cm next to the church, it's not something to go and see and it wouldn't mean anything except that it's old.

I'll try to explain this bugaboo of mine. "Adventures" are not found by asking the locals where they are. They are found by going there and finding that thing. You didn't ask Høle to tell you about something interesting there; it was passed along to you because that was the story you found when you got off the boat. The same thing applies here: I have no "story" for Treborg. It is just a place. Not every place is an adventure. IF there's an adventure in the mountains, you will have to go to the mountains. You can't always expect me to set up the adventure for when you get off the boat, and you can't make it happen by asking people for rumours. If you go to a place, and nothing happens, you have two choices. Make something happen, or go to another place. Set yourself up in Treborg, count it a peaceful base, build a house, put your stores in it and then hexcrawl. Or kill someone and leave. Or prospect or whatever you want. But don't try to make something "happen" or create a narrative by asking me, "What do random people have to say about the place I want to go?"
I should think that knowing there are trolls and giants would make them more insular, wouldn't you?

Pandred: That's all fair. Can you understand from my perspective that not asking seems like negligence? If something were to happen to us on our excursion, something preventable by saying "Hey, you live a day of this thing, what's up?" and we hadn't done so, I'd feel even more foolish than I do during this exchange? You might view it as wasting time, but for me at least it just seems like due diligence. The answer "Never been." is disappointing maybe, but it is AN answer.

OOC

Pandred, your response, that you're seeking to avoid the preventable, and not do something foolish, and thus perform your due diligence, is in your own words, "all fair." So, let me deconstruct that.

If your real person went to the supermarket, wishing to obtain the best possible produce, you wouldn't say to the manager, "Is there anything I should know about the produce aisle?" Questions like, "Has anything unusual happened lately?" is not the way that we human beings speak to one another daily. The question presumes the grocery manager understands the context of your speech, or that the farmer understands that you're an adventurer in a D&D game and that you're going up into the mountains. But, the farmer doesn't KNOW, from the context you're giving, WHY you're asking, "what lives up there?" Without any context — and I'm not granting any context, because the farmer isn't a game construct, he's a farmer — you sound like a crazy person asking the question in precisely that way.

Now, let's suppose you said, "I step up to a person and introduce myself, saying 'My name is Pandred. I'm just up from Stavanger and I've never been in these parts before. My friends and I were planning on exploring the mountains.' "

First off, you'd be tempted to add, "Is there anything you can tell me about the mountains?" But the obvious answer from a stranger would be, "Why are you asking me? What would I know about it?" But just say, you DON'T add anything else. You just give your intentions. One part of you might think, I should explain why I'm telling him this, or he won't say anything. Or you might think, if there's something dangerous up there, the farmer won't tell me, because I'm a stranger and why would the farmer volunteer information?

I would argue, the farmer would DEFINITELY volunteer information. If there were something dangerous up there, the farmer would say, "My gawd, woman, don't you know about the Snarfblag!?" Because no common, everyday farmer would want anyone to go to their death that way. The farmer would warn you, and because it's a small town, the farmer would tell everyone, and they'd come forward and tell you, "Don't go up there, the snarfblag will get you!"

If they don't say anything like that, it wouldn't be because they don't care. It would be because the truth is, "Sure, why shouldn't you go into the mountains? Sounds difficult, but to each their own."

The tendency is, I think, to always assume that I'm going to lead you to some place and then have a wizard pop out and absurdly kill you with a 14-die fireball, out of the blue. That every hook, from Mimmarudla to Høle or wherever, is a deliberate set-up to fuck over the party, because I get my jollies watching TPKs. I've been running online campaigns now for 10 years, and not once have I ever done a TPK. The worst fight that has happened were those firebeetles, where three 1st level party members got killed, but that wasn't me; the two that lived did so by running away; if everyone had recognized the danger when it was obvious, they would have all run away early and probably all survived. But they stayed and fought and counted +1 bonuses like that alone would win the fight for them, and it went very badly.

I am not interested in hurting people. No matter what, if there's a 150 hit point red dragon up there, if Baalzebub is sitting on a throne up there making flies as big as houses, there is zero chance that there won't be an opportunity to see it, back the fuck out and run down the mountain. Players don't get killed because I screw with them. They get killed because they think the enemy is the Toad, when it's actually the Demon, and they single-mindedly decide to do stupid things when the pressure is on. They get killed because AFTER seeing it's Baalzebub, they think, "Oh, now that I know, I'm sure Alexis won't kill me, so I'll go down and talk to Baalzebub and strike a bargain." I will ALWAYS give you warning as a DM as to what you're getting into. I won't give you plot armour. Players will be allowed to see what the risk is, but what they do AFTER seeing, that's not my problem.

I swear and I promise, if you tell people that you're going to those mountains over there, and there's a reason not to go that these people know about, they WILL tell you so. Cross my heart and hope to die. But if you shoot out context-less phrases and presume the locals know what the hell you're talking about, they'll cock their heads, blink, and think, "I'm talking to a crazy person."

Pandred: I 100% understand.

Treborg Countryside

Pandred: I'd like to get started on exploring the mountains while we have food. "Barren" is not ideal for keeping us supplied, but if we get a decent vantage, maybe we'll find something, even a few valleys over. The cart may not move but I can still lead a mule with food. Do we want to leave someone to watch the rest of our supplies here, or go back to Treborg and set up a proper place to store it?

Vafrandir: Pandred, we haven't stated our action to go, so we're still in Treborg, as far as I know. I am in favor of storing it the supplies in the village, somehow, until we can return. Otherwise I agree, let's explore the mountains: and if nothing is there, we'll either make something happen or leave!

Pandred: I had interpreted Alexis' description of the friendly farmers outside Treborg and the mention of the end of the cart-track to mean we had traveled there. Going back I see I was mistaken. Good catch.

Embla Strand [OOC sorry to be so late to this - I hadn't seen there was a new page up] An expedition into the mountains will be quite an undertaking. Let's establish something of a base. We've a keg of ale and plenty of food, and I certainly have a fair amount of coin. Why don't we see if we can get the folk here to pitch in and help us build a house?

Vafrandir: I've no argument with that if we have the coin. We're on no schedule.

Pandred: After my refund I'm not doing so bad myself, so this sounds like a fine idea.

The DM: Correct. I have not heard anyone say they were leaving Treborg. I was giving a description of the landscape as might be learned from the locals.

The DM: There is plenty of wood around; no one in the party has any housebuilding skills, but I'm certain that there are people here who could help. Can you give me an idea of how much money you'd like to spend? A 15 ft. square, single-beamed roof house with fireplace and foundation costs 189 g.p.; adding a 10% builder's fee, that's 18 g.p., 14 s.p. and 5 c.p. Would you like it on the road, north or south of town, towards the sea or against the woods? How much land would you like to purchase? You can find the price of land listed under the Town Market on your Stavanger price list.

Vafrandir: Is the land price per acre?

The DM: Yes.

Vafrandir: I am in favor of forest land near the road to the north. A single acre should suffice for now. What would be our options for clearing and selling the extra timber? Also, how long will this take to build? I ask so we can consider our resupply options.

The DM: You will observe there is an entry for clearing timber per acre; without a sage ability for selling goods, you can reap between 20-50% of the wood's value per acre you clear. The cost of hiring a woodsman is 8 s.p., or ½ g.p., per day. Which means you will probably operate at a loss. You can do the woodcutting yourself, but there is a chance of accident and it will take longer than 10 days, and reduce the cost of the wood sold by 20% (due to the poor job done).

The DM: The house I described would require 3 months to build; you can double the builder's fee and have it completed in 2 months; if you quadruple the builder's fee, you can have your house completed in 5 weeks and 5 days.

The DM: To clarify the day and time, I assume you're asking around to get answers for these questions. The builder's name is Anders Hagen. It is now about 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the 25th of May; you spent one night in the hostel and I assume you all spent your copper for that. The weather is cool, the sky is clear and a gentle breeze is blowing from north northwest.

Pandred: Does adding our own labor to either the woodcutting or the building decrease the time to complete those tasks, or would we only get in the way?

The DM: You would most likely get in the way. You might consider that those woods would be more valuable to you as hunting ground than as wood. This page needs some rework, but once you obtain foraging from your logistic study, and I figure out the rate of food per acre searched, you will do better selling or using it to support yourselves.
The DM: Obviously, the more acreage you buy, the better your potential food supply.

Pandred: I can chip in for an acre of forested land at 39gp. How many do we think we actually want? Embla's father was a farmer, do we think we can benefit from the quite-cheap tilled land?

Embla Strand I have amateur Logistics, and thus the foraging sage ability. Consequently, let's go for a larger area - a half-dozen acres, perhaps? And I'd like to expedite the building to take only 2 months. That'd run to about 461 gp, or 115gp and 3sp each. How does that sound? I can sow crops, but that'd be a full-time job for Embla.
Pandred: I only have 73gp. If someone can chip in the extra 42gp to cover the rest of my share, I'd be fine with contributing my store to that total.

The DM: I think I will go with one day of foraging = 1 acre searched, so that 6 acres would provide you with 6 days foraging per month (as it would replenish). Likewise, 1 day of hunting would mean 10 acres hunted over, but the replenish time would be every week.

The DM: incidentally, I worked on one of puissance sage abilities last night: Close Drop Please note it and remind me should you drop any weapons.

The DM: I cannot ask for any pledges from Marcule, but the character does have 1,100 g.p. that he can draw upon in credit. When he's able to return, you could make arrangements for him to cover the cost and refund his share of the money. Unfortunately, he cannot draw his money in Treborg, it is too small. He would have to return to Stavanger.

Vafrandir: I have a small bit left over but not much, Pandred. I assume we'll also need lodging costs until the construction is complete?

The DM: you had mentioned tents? The temperature at night hasn't shown much chance of getting less than brisk (40s) and is generally as comfortable at night as during the day.

The DM: I've just finished a description for the sage ability, Gain Proficiency.

Vafrandir: Yes, we have plenty of tents, so that's taken care of. If someone can pick up for Pandred, I think we are in good shape to start. 6 forested acres total, 2 months build time.

Embla Strand I can pitch in the extra funds. We might want to draw on that credit to improve the place (it's not very big, and we will probably want more space soon), but that's a matter we can leave for after the completion of the current construction.
Embla Strand Scratch that, I only have 146gp. We need another 11gp.
Vafrandir: Now that I can do (just barely).

The House

The DM: Here's one to consider, now. The size of the house will enable you to store 69 tons of goods. Each person that eats, shelters and sleeps there will need 4 tons of that space. Objects that have empty cubic footage, like a bed, will take up 62 extra lbs. over their base weight per cubic ft. of space. From that, without having to lay out the interior, you should be able to figure your living arrangements and storage.

Embla Strand So, with room for 8 people, we're down to 37 tons. Each bed is roughly 6 tons and has room for 2 people, so beds for all 8 brings us down to 13 tons left. That's not going to work long-term. Fortunately, it's nice out and bound to stay habitable outside for a while yet, as we're heading into summer. We'll need a second house asap, I think.
The DM: Did you calculate for cubic footage above and below the bed, to a 10 ft. ceiling? I get the same number (12,090 lbs.) near to yours, for a 6.5 x 3 ft. bed to a ceiling 10 ft. high, I'm just being sure we're on the same page.
Embla Strand Oh, no - I just calculated for the bed (8' bedposts) My bad. The bed description says 6x4 on the price table, not 6.5x3.
The DM: No problem, I was just guestimating. For that dimension, I get 14,880 lbs. or 7.44 tons.
Embla: ... I like my numbers better... :) OK. Even at 4' wide, 2 people/bed is not super reasonable. At 1 bed/person, we get 11t/person, or 3-4 people per house with a reasonable amount of space left over (for a table, empty space to perform in-house work, etc.).
The DM: consider bunk beds? I can figure out a price for those. And for narrower, 3 ft. wide beds. You won't be able to buy them here, but you can figure for their dimensions.

Vafrandir: Bunk beds are a reasonable addition. But for now, ~7 tons of space is plenty.

The DM: I count at 11 tons a person, that's 6 persons for the size of house you're proposing. Point in fact to consider, a 20x15 foot house would increase the cost by 23.8% (in terms of wall & roof), but it would also increase the space/storage by 33% (300 sq.ft. over 225 sq.ft.). That change would increase your carrying capacity to 91.8 tons.

Pandred: Do we have the cash for that now? If not, good is good enough.

The DM: let me send a message to Marcule and see if he is willing to chip in (if he sees the email).
The DM: I have not yet heard back from him.

Vafrandir: Could we retcon it based on his input whenever he's able to return?

The DM: No need; he is kicking in 200 g.p. Do with it as you will.
Embla Strand Much of that 200 goes towards the initial house. If we are to build the bigger house, I think we'd need to tap into Marcule's credit. Since we have the pavilion tent, I think the small house will do for the moment.