Treborg in Mid-to-Late June

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Strong Breeze.jpg

Weather becoming important again, the morning of the 20th starts with a strong breeze and a moderate rainfall (5mm over a 3 hour period). This is enough to produce a steady downpour, something equal to this. Nadia is game to go nonetheless, though you're all going to get very wet, as the wind will blast the rain sideways. She feels she can get you across the bay in about five hours. I'd intended to describe the journey, but given the conditions, the players will have to decide their intentions first.

Obviously the sky is very grey. The temperature is merely cool, however, this being June; it's much better than brisk. Think 13°C or 55°F.

Marcule:Out

Pandred: I'm okay with making the crossing.

Pandred: Out.

Embla Strand In/Out. Let's cross. I've taken care of wages on my end.

Vafrandir: I am as well. We make sure all the supplies are strapped down tight, we've enough rope. I've accounted for all food to this point.

Vafrandir: Out.

The DM: Out.

The DM: In.

The DM: So long as we understand it is dangerous. The weather algorithm effectively dumped the storm on me and I have no special plans for it. During the crossing, there is a small percentage, 2%, of something troublesome happening. There are six of you in the boat, and to save time, I will roll for each of you: Embla, Marcule, Nadia, Pandred, Vafrandir, Valda. Pandred, sorry to say, your number came up (I rolled 1 in 50 for each of you alphabetically). I will need Pandred to roll a d% as the fjord is crossed. I'd rather the player rolled; if I don't hear from her in half an hour, however, I'll make the roll.

Marcule:In

The DM: The storm is severely unpleasant and you're all forced to bail the boat as you make your way across. If anything, the rain is heavier towards noon; but though you're drenched, the water is cold. It is more the stinging spray being blasted off the water that makes the journey hard. Thankfully, as you get into the leeward of each island along the way, places Nadia steers for, you get a respite from the wind that lets you catch your breaths.

The DM: Okay, rolling for Pandred. This is on the Malady Checks table, still on the old wiki. 64 indicates that Pandred slips and falls, suffering 1d4 damage. A dexterity check would be needed to determine if she falls into the water, since you're on a boat; I'm very uncomfortable with making that check, since it could result in Pandred falling in, the others failing to catch her, and her being lost forever. So, again, I believe I'll wait another half an hour before I make that roll.

Vafrandir: In.

Pandred: In. And also, apparently, fuck this boat.

Pandred: What do you want me to roll for, Dex, the damage, what's up?

The DM: A dexterity check, rolling a d20 against your dexterity. The damage is 4.

Pandred: 20. Blub blub.

The DM: Okay, this is getting dire. Vafrandir, you're nearest Pandred; I will need you to start with an intelligence check, to see if you're too dullwitted by the storm to be paying attention to Pandred's slip. d20, please.

Vafrandir: [5], my Int is 12.

The DM: Okay. Temptation is to say, "You see Pandred start to fall, what do you do?" But I think we'll assume that you try to catch her. That's a dexterity check.

Vafrandir: The first thing I do is holler for the others: perhaps I can't be heard above the storm but it can't hurt. [12], Dex is 16.

The DM: You catch her, and a heart-pounding moment is finished. Chances are, you wouldn't have had time to think about hollering; the dexterity check is a reflex check, to see if you would habitually just reach out and steady her; there wouldn't have been planning in it. But don't forget to keep reminding Pandred that you saved her life. You're a hero.

Vafrandir: Everyone here has saved my life many times! I am honored to return the favor. My heart was honestly in my mouth.

Marcule: Deep exhale.

Pandred: Alright, so next adventure is to slay Poseidon himself. Guy tried to ambush me, you all saw it.

The DM: Men.

The DM: Well, a lot of Norwegian kings have died by drowning in the fjords. The boat finishes its journey safely, pulling up at the dock in Treborg about three in the afternoon. By then, thankfully, the wind has diminished to a moderate breeze, the rain has lessened by two thirds to a light shower and the clouds have lifted, though it is still overcast. The wind is blowing out of the southwest now, so that Treborg harbour is comparatively calm. You pull the boat towards one of the many posts driven deep into the sand and clay, where the boat can be tied for security (there are no docks here).

Vafrandir: How does the shore look? We may want to wait to unload until its less muddy.

The DM: The shore is rocks. The mooring post is about 6 feet from the water's edge, and being a Norwegian, you jump into the water and get your legs wet. Marcule makes a nimble jump from the boat's prow and lands about two feet from the water's edge, so he doesn't sink up to his neck. Then the boat is pulled around and emptied while you all stand in calf deep water (except for Marcule, who can't reach above the gunnel; if he were to help unload, he would do it from inside the boat.

Landing in Treborg, June 20th

Pandred: Then let's get these chests and whatnot indoors. If Odds has stayed dry, I won't trouble him.

Vafrandir: We'll start unloading then.

The DM: You might want to trouble him. The edge of shore is about two hundred yards from Treborg, and I believe your tent and partly done house is a quarter mile north of town. I'll go check that.

Vafrandir: The cart will hold 1 ton. We have less than a ton but not by much. Let's split it between two trips. Pandred, can you fetch Odds and the cart and mule?

The DM: House started on forest land near the road to the north; so we'll say just a hundred yards north of Treborg, which wasn't specified. The house was started on May 25th and Embla asked for two months construction time; so, should be done the last week of July.

Pandred: Can do, will do, done.

Vafrandir: Great! We'll load what we can "inside" such as it is, I'll have to go back and look at the available space. Otherwise, we can tie down a few of our spare tents over the extras.

The DM: Fetching Oddsdrakken, you get everything loaded and taken along to your tents. I've specified the amount those can store, in people and goods; is there enough tent space for the increased number of persons (2 tons each for empty sleeping space); if not, some will have to stay at the hostel for 3 c.p. a night. Valda and Nadia learn the location of your property.

Marcule: out.

The DM: As you're coming along with your stuff, you see Monica standing under the eaves of one of the houses, watching you. "Hello Vafrandir," she'll say, as you pass.

Vafrandir: We have 10 tents and 1 large pavilion tent. That will cover 7 persons and our roughly 1400 lb of goods. The large tent takes some time to erect but we can get it done by night-fall.

Vafrandir: "Hello, Monica! Are you and your family well?"

Monica: "Very well. My father sends his greetings."

Vafrandir: "I am glad to hear it!" I gesture to the cart. "We have much work to do while we have the light, so I must take my leave. God be with you!"

Monica: "Bye. Vafrandir."

The DM: And I'm Out. Have a good weekend!

Vafrandir: Out. Good day!

Settling in Treborg

The DM: In.

The DM: Let's continue this thread here. It will take you part of the morning of June 21st to get yourselves unpacked and settled. At that time the temperature will be cool, with a little spattering rain. Describe your plans, please. Your house is about half completed.

Vafrandir: In.

Vafrandir: We'll take Valda around the place - though it's not much yet - and ask her to make a plan for planting. I'd like to go back up into the mountains once the rain clears out, though how long that'll take I don't know. Dilhak is sure to be gone by now but perhaps we can pick up his trail.

The DM: There doesn't seem to be any part of your land that's properly arable.

Vafrandir: What's the main issue with it? Rocky, poor drainage, that sort of thing?

The DM: Yes, that's it. Most of the arable land has been taken surrounding Treborg, and there isn't that much of it. Valda can point to a section near your land that covered with trees, saying that if perhaps that could be cleared, she could plant there. She can plant as late as the 20th of July, that's a month from now. Vafrandir could see that's land the party doesn't own.

Embla Strand In. Well, let's see about purchasing that plot so that we can get some food production. Would that be the forest price?

Vafrandir: I agree, we've already got 6, a few more won't hurt. Assuming it's not already owned. I remember some discussion of the difficulty of clearing land.

The DM: 39 g.p. per acre. An acre is the minimum purchase size.

Vafrandir: Very good. Let's do it. Embla, I assume we have the coin? Let's see if we can speak with Mss. Hendriksen to arrange it.

Vafrandir: Out.

Embla Strand Is that the acre's price or the price of clear-cutting it?

The DM: That's the price to buy it. You have to clear it yourself.

Pandred: In. How many people can be fed an acre? We might consider gobbling up as much as we can and selling the excess lumber. Some day we might have more retainers, after all.

The DM: There's a shortage of arable land surrounding Treborg (which explains why it is such a small village). There is only one acre available. As it is, you'll need to spare your animal to help clear it for planting. You can plant 97 lbs. per acre of seed and get four times that in return.

Embla Strand Great. I buy it.

The DM: You can finish the arrangements for the land by the afternoon of the 21st. The rain is drizzling now, not quite but almost a fog. The temperature continues to be cool.

Pandred: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but with a single harvest this acre is going to give us 388 lbs of return: meaning that split seven ways we can expect 55-ish lbs per person per year? Fuck me, we might want to set up a satellite location outside Stavanger after our next big haul.

The DM: Correct. Consider the region. This isn't Picardy or the Po Valley. It's true you'd do better with 10 acres, but even then you'd have to compliment the oat harvest with fish, gathered apples, chicken eggs and hunting, and possibly a milk cow if you were lucky enough to afford one. Only a rich person in Treborg would have a dairy cow; even the three teams of oxen in the community are shared.
Embla Strand Well, I can hunt for us, and investing in fishing and a milk cow or two might be a good use of our funds from the next venture.

Embla Strand Out.

The DM: You invested in fishing, yes? Nadia is an amateur fisher.

The DM: Well, gotta go early today. Out. And before I forget, I have an appointment tomorrow; I won't be playing until Wednesday. But I'll check in and answer any questions tonight or tomorrow night.

Pandred: Bummer, but alright. Have a good one everyone! Out.

New Segment

The DM: In. We can go now.

Vafrandir: Hope your appointment went well and you are feeling better!

Vafrandir: As regards our hires, I suppose fishing and hunting are the best options right now. How long, theoretically, would it take us to clear that extra acre?

The DM: I'm so pleased when I have these answers written in advance. An expert woodcutter can cut 1 cord of wood out of a forest in a day; you can probably cut a third of that per person. A cord is 1½ tons; there are about 80 tons altogether in this forest. That means you'll have to hire a crew if you want it done in a month. That calculates to 9 s.p. per day per woodcutter and 3 s.p. per day per labourer. A woodcutter can work up to 3 labourers, who cut ⅔ cords a day each -- altogether, one woodcutter and three labourers would cut 3 cords a day, or 4½ tons of wood. Total time for the acre, 17.78 days.

Marcule: In

Marcule: I have little to say on these matters as i am an early adventure. But if ia needed for anything please let me know.

Vafrandir: So the question is whether that money is better spent elsewhere for a harvest essentially equivalent to about a month of supplies. Could the wood be sold (probably not here, but in Stavanger)?

The DM: Absolutely. The wood would be worth 1,715 g.p.; but getting the wood to Stavanger is the problem. 80 tons would be a lot of freight. However, the 80 tons would be worth 4,288 g.p. on the market, and 3,859 g.p. as barter value for Embla ... only, it is no good here.

Vafrandir: Still, it might not be be a bad resource to have in pocket. Even if shipping is slow and takes a few months. The crew cost would come out to about 21 gp. I think we should have enough to cover that.

The DM: Do understand that's the cost to cut it and drag it into piles; it doesn't include moving the wood off the property. That would be the cost of a teamster + 1 other labourer; and just now I haven't got that number. It will be higher, however, since it will involve the cost of feeding the horse, wear and tear on the wagon, the time needed, an additional labourer or three to help; and you'll have to make arrangements with Treborg as to where by dockside you want to dump the wood (though there probably won't be a cost for that, there will likely be a time given as to how long you have before it has to be moved away).

Vafrandir: Our current acre lies fallow: could we have it stocked there instead? Especially if it may be some time before we're able to actually sell it.

The DM: That would seem to make more sense in the short run, since it is already late June. Then you could make plans to expand into new land at a better season. Additionally, since your farmer is able to manage, alone, at least 4 acres, you'd do better to have that many available if you want to get more than a month's food supply out of your harvesting.

Vafrandir: Would we need the teamster + team to move it that short of a distance? (anyone who's done any lumber work knows this is not a short distance at all, ha!)

The DM: You want to move 80 tons of wood a quarter mile one log at a time?

Vafrandir: XD no strong desire to, although I suppose if I needed the workout. I know you don't have the number yet but I think it'll be necessary if we want the land available for planting. Who has the numbers for the party's fund?

The DM: Let me propose something. You're almost certain to head off into the wilderness again, and that will probably take no more than a week. You've already established you don't need to cut THIS forest to plant; so you can let Valda get started right now, and at a later date you can decide on the clearcutting. Suppose we move towards the adventure for the time being, and when you're not pinching pennies you can decide how best to manage this.

Vafrandir: I thought we had established that there was no arable land available, only this new acre which needs to be cleared. In any case, I'm happy to let Valda begin her other tasks of chicken keeping and hunting while we are away. We'll spend the morning packing food and supplies on the cart for the trip.

Pandred: In/Out (To my great annoyance). I can be our teamster for that purpose when it comes to it, per my father (unless Alexis wants to correct me on that). Does our Hunter have any ability to track, and with that said, is there a snowballs chance in hell of picking up Dilhak's trail? If not, I have my spyglass and I'm content to survey what we can with our eyes. Vafrandir: I don't know the whole party fund, but I know my personal fund is zero, and I'm pretty certain we haven't dipped into Marcule's credit at all. I had a thought earlier today, but I can't stick around long enough to hash it out with everyone, so I'd rather head out again and see about pulling in a haul and going from there.

The DM: No, Valda does not have the ability to track. She has the sage ability but does not have the sage study it comes from. Marcule, I'll let you retcon taking some of your credit money. I feel like I already explained the process of that in paying the money back. Did I?

The DM: You don't know if you have any chance of finding Dilhak, because you just don't know.

Marcule: Yes I understand the lending process. I would like to take out 500gp to ease any purchases the party might need to make on our next excursion.

The DM: Out.

Vafrandir: We have gotten most of the supplies we need, Marcule, at this for this excursion. The need of the hour is for the work on our land. I'm sure that money will cover whatever the team costs. So we'll retcon that when a price is available, yes?

Vafrandir: Out.

The DM: In. I'll be here for about 2½ hours. Vafrandir, by "team" you mean the woodcutters, nyet? Can I confirm you wish to clearcut the land and we can settle that? Pandred, as teamster, can manage three labourers and they can be the same three that helped the woodcutter. I've been watching videos of people loading logs by hand; Pandred would have techniques to get the log into the cart and vise-versa, levers and such. I'm guessing one ton of logs, a short round trip, unloading would together take about 1 hour per ton. Of course, who knows the real answer, because no one measured time on such things in the 17th century, and the size of the logs is an issue. If the logs were really big, there's virtually no way to do it; but, I'll assume the acre of land purchased produces logs that are manageable. In all, this makes 80 hours of hauling, or 8 hard but doable days.

The DM: If you do it, the axle on the wagon has to be checked each day (we'll say 2%). The move will get your logs to a designated place to where they could be loaded onto a ship. Thereafter Treborg will charge you 2 c.p. per day to leave them where they are, probably up to a period of six months.

Vafrandir: In.

Vafrandir: Yes, we will clearcut and haul the wood.

The DM: Good, put two weeks of money into Oddsdrakken's hands and let him pay off the woodcutter and labourers for two weeks, and give yourself some time to do other things.

Vafrandir: Very good. Hmm...two weeks is a while to keep ourselves occupied. We'll think of something.

Vafrandir: I'll keep checking back in but I don't want to take any big actions right now without anyone else to play off, if that's alright.

The DM: It's fine. Tamara is seeing her eye-doctor today and I always go with, so I'm done in about half an hour. I'll monitor until then.

The DM: Out. Have a good weekend.

New Week of Play

The DM: In.

Vafrandir: I will be in in a few hours. Finishing up some things at the lab at the moment.

Embla Strand I think with Odds supervising the logging and the house construction still underway, perhaps we should seek Dilhak? See if he wants any help with that beastie he was hunting? A friend like that seems worth having.

Vafrandir: I doubt he's still there. But I agree we ought to look for him if we can.

The DM: Are you prepared to leave Treborg?

Embla Strand I am.

The DM: I assume then that you've establish how much food you're taking with you and any adjustments to your action points, weapons, equipment etc. you care to make. Are you taking the cart?

Vafrandir: Don't we need the cart for the team? Or do they have one of their own? The amount of food we can carry will depend on that.

The DM: The team will have a cart of their own, as well as a mule.

Vafrandir: Very good. I will load three chests of food (~450 lb), along with 5 tents, 100 ft of rope, 10 torches. Anyone else have any equipment to add?

The DM: Water?

Vafrandir: We only have 2 pottle jugs and I will fill and load them. Is this an environment where water would be scarce?

The DM: depends if you're injured and holed up somewhere, and you need to cart water to your camp from a long distance. I want to know how much you can carry at one time. Pity we couldn't get more done today. Do better tomorrow I hope. Out.

Vafrandir: That'd be 8.3 lb of water for 1 gal total. Not a great deal. Perhaps the rest of the party has some ideas; we can discuss tomorrow. Out.

The DM: In for Jan 26th.

Embla Strand In as well. I load up my rabbitfur coat, hatchet, and spade. I don't have any way to carry water, though, which will be a big problem.

Embla Strand I head to town to see if anyone is willing to part with a wineskin or cask.

The DM: I suggest you speak with the builder of your house, Anders Hagen. I'll ask you to make a charisma check; a d20, rolled equal with or less than your charisma.

Embla Strand Rolled 15 over 9, which I'm pretty sure is a failure.

The DM: It's not likely anyone else would be of help here, as the party has done little to reach out to the community. I'm sure Vafrandir has enough to share; a pottle jug carries 2 quarts, so 4 quarts of water, in this cool humid climate, will fare you decently. Dehydration isn't nearly the problem it is in more southern climes.

The DM: Would you like to initiate the party's journey, Embla? You have Vafrandir's agreement, which is a quorum (half the party), particularly as you're alone at present. You're here, so it's your decision alone.

Embla Strand Let's head out.

The DM: Good. With purchasing your new land (20th), arranging to have it cleared (21st & 22nd) and getting yourself ready for the journey and searching for a wineskin (24th), we can say you head out on the morning of the 25th of June. I will need each person of the party to pay out 2 lbs. in food per day, or 8 lbs.

Vafrandir: In. I'll mark the food.