A Rather Odd Shovel [Judge: Bront]

covaithe · Mar 3, 2009

Tommy waves his hand dismissively. "Was it just a restaurant? Perhaps I misremembered. I don't really care where we sleep, I just want to some food. I'm so hungry I could eat a dire weasel."

[sblock=ooc]The only thing I'd consider doing tonight instead of tomorrow is visiting Turket's house. Which, if Keldar carries through on his plans to have a Hat of Disguise crafted, might be best done tomorrow too.[/sblock]

Trouvere · Mar 3, 2009

"Right! Keep up, Tarag and Fimble! Keldar's looking for an inn that serves exotic wildlife."

Rae ArdGaoth · Mar 6, 2009

"Dire weasel?" Fimble exclaims. "Is there something I should know about?" He raises his eyebrows and Riki pops her weasel-like head out of his sleeve. Stroking her reassuringly, he mutters, "Don't worry my little muskrat, they surely only like big, muscular mustelidae, unlike you..."

Fimble serves as your guide through Lower Fallon, taking you through cramped alleys and uneven streets. Eventually you find yourselves at a respectable, affordable inn called Twintree, not far from the docks, but nowhere near enough to have a nice view. Twintree apparently has a couple of properties throughout Fallon and even other cities, this is only one of many.

Upon entering, you find the standard accomodations: a desk, manned by a clerk, a few chairs and tables in the common room, and a hallway leading to the private rooms in the back.

"Welcome to Twintree, folks. Sharing a couple of rooms tonight, I suppose? And you'll be joining us for dinner too, I hope. 5 silver per night, comes with a hot dinner and a cold breakfast. Sound like a deal?"

Trouvere · Mar 6, 2009

"Yes, fine, fine. We'd like a room for, let's say a week?" Keldar looks to the others. "And dinner immediately, please! We've not eaten all day."

Once immediate physical needs have been dealt with, Keldar pokes around their assigned room, noting a conspicuous lack of marble and fine furnishings. "I suppose I could see a crystal bridge if I leant out a window and craned my neck hard enough," he grumbles.

"Right, then. Important matters. Gems. Pirate gold. Someone stand by the door, and cover the window."

Keldar spreads the takings out on the table. He begins dividing the gold into six piles, flicking coins about deftly. "Keldar, Tommy, Tarag, Rapture, Galwynn, Fimble... Keldar, To-" Fimble's instant refusal surprises him. "Well, really? We'll find some way to reward you for your help, Fimble, if exposing the thieves of your family fortune is not enough."

The coins are quickly stacked in five even piles. "Now, as you must remember, on the morning we left Orussus, I borrowed fifty gold from Rapture. I now repay it. Keldar always repays his debts." He moves five platinum dragons from his own stack to the fourth. "Ah yes, and we can't forget that Galwynn owes me 100 crowns, for those healing potions I poured down his ungrateful throat." He moves ten platinum coins back to his own pile. "However, I think it's clear Galwynn felt so guilty about his role in the selling of my ship that he - and Rapture - wanted none of the proceeds. And we have no idea where they've gone or if... if we'll see them again any time soon. So I think it best if, for now...." Keldar takes Galwynn and Rapture's shares and collapses them together, and redivides those coins, adding them to the other three piles. Then he quickly begins distributing the gems three ways.

"There's a thought!" he says. "Tarag, dwarves have a feeling for stone, and always know how far underground they are, I've heard. And here we are, in one sense hundreds of feet below the ground I'm used to walking on, and in another sense, still in the open air. How does that feel to you? Does only your left elbow itch? Does just one ear pop?"

"There we are! A perfectly equitable distribution, with old debts settled."[sblock=OOC]Poor Fimble cannot profit. 9000 gp of gems; 5111.6 gp of pirate loot; 4687.2 gp to Tarag and Tommy, and mumble (4737.2) to Keldar.[/sblock]

covaithe · Mar 6, 2009

"Whew! That's a lot of money. What are you going to spend yours on, Keldar?" Tommy hefts a handful of gold judiciously.

Rae ArdGaoth · Mar 6, 2009

[sblock=OOC: ]Just to make it clear, the Craft Point system's magical "it appears the next day" rule only applies outside of adventures. During an adventure, you still need to take the time to craft the item.[/sblock]

Boddynock · Mar 7, 2009

Tarag frowns as Keldar makes his calculations.

"And am I going to be reimbursed for the scrolls I use on behalf of the party? What about Tommy's wand?"

The dwarf picks up his share, looks at it narrowly and then pockets it.

"Lad, I don't begrudge you your refund ... but I think it raises an important issue. Now that we have some ready cash, I think it would be good if we all made a contribution to party funds, for the purchase of those items which are for the benefit of the party - healing potions, wands and such like."

"What say we all put in 300 gold? That'd pay for a wand, and still have some cash left over for other requirements."

He reaches back into his pocket and takes out 30 platinum.

"Here's my contribution. Keldar, will you hold the funds for us?"

covaithe · Mar 7, 2009

[sblock=party fund?]Hmm, interesting idea. What would we intend it for? Just wands and healing resources generally? What happens if we part ways in the future; would whoever kept the things buy back the other party members' shares? If the answer to both of those is yes, then I'm all for it and I'll chip in some. If we're talking about pooling funds for other purchases, well, I'm open to specific proposals, but I think there's got to be a line somewhere. I mean, even a headband of +4 intellect benefits the party as a whole, indirectly, but it would be... quite a big long-term commitment to party unity, to start pooling funds for items like that that are normally owned by a single person.

It may also be of note that Tommy is very likely to take Craft Wand at level 5, so healing wands may soon cost less than usual. Assuming we manage to get some XP at some point.

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Trouvere · Mar 8, 2009

"I think you'll find everything I do and everything I own is used for the good of the party, from Thyrin's Hand around my neck, to the bow that drops enemies from afar, to the sword that hangs by my side, to the toothpicks - dear old Granny! - that have so many uses, to the daggers I really should think about keeping concealed in my boots," says Keldar easily, picking a chair and putting his hands behind his head.

"If you're quibbling over a few scrolls, I shouldn't worry," he goes on, with a wave of his hand at his pile of coins and gems. "I daresay I'll be handing most of that over to you or Tommy in due course."

"But still… a wand for healing, eh? The paladins could heal with a touch of her… I mean, their hands. Without them, we're spread a little thin, are we not? Keldar cannot be everywhere at once, after all. If you, Tarag, were to be struck senseless in a fight, we'd struggle to get you back on your feet. So, a wand would be a good thing to have, for your sake especially. I have no doubt a Warbray could make it work. How hard can it be?"

"And with me wielding a wand, you'd scarcely be needed! Er, to fulfil your role as healer, I mean. Why, you could wade up front into battle alongside Keldar - and pray for something useful in the mornings and not feel you had to hold back with those spells lest someone be hurt. Why, if we had a wand, it would practically double your own strength! I bet if there were something as cheap that could give you your spellcasting twice over, Tommy, you'd have bought it already by now."

"I'm sorry? What were you suggesting again?"[sblock=OOC]Yeah, okay. Wand is good. A single CLW potion for Tommy to carry would be handy too. That way any of us can provide healing in a pinch.

covaithe's suggestion that we go even more "all for one and one for all" isn't completely crazy. Any item possessed by an individual increases the entire party's effectiveness, after all. As is probably obvious, Keldar's immediate wants are a Hat of Disguise and Gloves of Dexterity +2, which will still leave him with more than 1000 gp just sitting idle in his pockets (and there's still Fimble's father's reward money to come). After those items, there's nothing much he wants that can be made before we get back to Tarag's Forge, or made in-party before we reach 5th level. There's little sense in each of us holding on to thousands of gold, each waiting to get that little bit richer, when one of us could have a desired item immediately - if we are certain that we're sticking together past the next payoff. Heck, it might actually save someone's life to have something now rather than later.

Yes, I realise Keldar and I are not in agreement. He'll come round.[/sblock]

covaithe · Mar 10, 2009

[sblock=crafting again]Hmm, I wasn't exactly suggesting that we pool our funds. In a perfect world, where everyone had plenty of time for PbP gaming and we could be confident that our fellow players would stay the course indefinitely, I'd be all over it. But this is PbP, and, well, people leave sometimes. Any kind of party funding for item creation would have to acknowledge that fact.

Now, I don't think that makes cooperative craft funding impossible. Tommy has close to 5000g after this loot split, and he only intends to spend about 2000g on himself at the moment (headband of intellect +2, and maybe scribing a few spells). I'd be perfectly willing to have him loan out the rest of the cash for item creation, if we can have some kind of agreement (probably requiring DM buy-in as well) that if the owner of the resulting items disappears, we can sell off the item and pay Tommy back. Would something like that be acceptable?

Also, this doesn't apply to healing. I'm willing to chip in for a wand and/or potions anyway, even if it disappears later.
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