Booking a Trip
Product:
Lost Books 9, The Longstriders Journal
Publisher:
Clockwork Golem Workshop
Printed Out: 9 pages, 8.5 by 11
Price: $1.25
I hate to tell CGW this, but this product is underpriced. I’d pop it up to $2.50, and even at that it’s a bargain.
It does have problems. Such as “birth” for “berth”. Also, the gold piece value for spells is missing (Value, p2: Description). Presumably one finds the value of the spells using the appropriate section of the SRD, but that is not laid out. It really should have been included.
The description has one apparent and one most definite problem. A hardness of 5 is high for an object made of leather and flimsy paper. Evidently a quality imparted by the book’s magical nature. On the other hand, the description of a book measuring 12” tall by 9” wide and 100 pages plus cover thick as small is a tad much. While not, strictly speaking, a thick book, it is still a large book. Unless one is playing a hill giant or ogre I doubt anyone’s character would consider it a pocket book.
There you have my beefs. Sparse, aint they?
The Longstriders Journal is many things. A source of legend and folklore. A magical item. A cartographer’s aide. A survival aide. A book of spells. Add in a pair of alchemical formulas and you pretty much have the journal.
The heart of the book is the spells. There are twelve of these. The book also has two alchemical formulas in an appendix. What gives The Longstrider’s Journal its flavor is the history.
Here we learn of the original owner, possibly the creator, and his habits and wanderings. That last is left vague, the better to expand on should a GM so wish. Thuran Longstrider liked to gadabout, visiting various locations and seeing different sights. But he had the bad luck to run across a giant spider and came to an untimely end. Or did he? While his journal was found, his body was not. Might have been scavenged once drained, but there’s always the possibility he’s alive and well and living a quiet life. If he is alive, and he has some sort of psychic tie to The Longstrider’s Journal, he might be helpful in locating and retrieving it.
The history goes on to describe how the journal was found, lost again, and somehow wound up in the hands of a beast-man band. Said information, and more, is available to characters should they have knowledge of the book. Though even the most basic information is hard won.
As a magic item the journal is useful. The mapping feature alone would make it a valuable item to anyone needing accurate charts. While not as useful, the alchemical formulas could be used by alchemists and others as a way of supplementing their income. But, as I noted before, it is the spells that make the book.
There are 12 of these. Each with obvious utility in the wilderness, though as I hope to show they have use in other environments as well. We’ll deal with each in order.
Birdcry: A most useful spell. One that creates the illusion of birdsong and small animal noises. Lest one think that the lack of animals to be seen would negate the usefulness, keep in mind that most birds and small animals keep out of sight. Figure that a sparrow is a lot like a cockroach, for every one you see there are another dozen or so you can’t see.
Birdcry is meant to be used when ambushing people. Makes them think it’s safe. But that’s not the whole of it. Bird song tends to draw more birds. Small animals such as voles and chipmunks also tend to feel more comfortable when things sound normal. One might use Birdcry as an aid to Animal Friendship, Animal Empathy, or other such magic. The GM might allow
Birdcry to be cast before an animal calling spell to improve the outcome.
A caster could also use
Birdcry in the city or a dungeon or cave. In which case the spell would mimic the normal sounds of birds and small animals in those environments. The chittering of rats, the rustling of bats, or the sleepy cooing of pigeons late at night. Hell, a thief might use it to fake the sound of a clowder of pure breed kittens as he steals the 500 gold a piece real ones. Thus keeping the owners unaware of their impending financial (and emotional) loss.
Campfire Song: A most useful dweomer, but hell on the bard. It’s best used when the caster does not expect to be doing anything strenuous the next day, and his fellows need to be well rested. If anything was meant to be put into a magical device it’s
Campfire Song.
As a matter of fact, the penalty the bard pays is such one has to wonder why nobody has come up with a version that allows that caster to hum a few bars, then join his friends in slumber. Might be the beta version and nobody’s gotten around to fixing the bug.
Cloudbridge: Yes, I saved a beef for later, and you’re reading about it now. For its power
Cloudbridge is set at too low a level. I recommend putting it at 5th. It’s simply too good to be a 2nd level spell.
That said, while it is written up as a wilderness spell it has utility in other areas. A fog like bridge between rooftops in the city. Or one over a subterranean chasm, assuming that the water vapor in the cavern or dungeon gets thick enough to form fog or mist.
Or, a tribal shaman or local cleric might use
Cloudbridge as part of an initiation ceremony, or part of a funeral ceremony for an important person. The last would make it harder for grave robbers to get to the treasure interred with the deceased.
Feather Step: This is a spell made for society ladies. Society ladies who also happen to be 5th level wizards that is. For it “lightens the load” if you would, allowing the caster to step upon yielding surfaces as if they were solid. Very useful for mud puddles. It is useful for making it harder to track the caster, but that’s not all it’s good for.
Lonely Road: Any mesenger or curiour service in your setting that doesn’t have this spell available for its workers is functioning at a disadvantage. It creates a road that leads pretty much directly to its destination and ensures the traveller gets there safely and swiftly.
At some 50’ wide the road is capable of taking a pair of horses side by side, or even a wagon or wain. Given enough 7th level wizards a drayage company could use
Lonely Road to make shipments. Given that in a medieval like setting road hazards made bulk shipments too expensive to be worthwhile, something like
Lonely Road could change the fabric of trade and economic life. Especially if the end points happen to have something like a sea, a swamp, or a mountain range in the way.
Scenario: A fishing village supplies a fairly common fish to an inland town. said town is the only place the shipments can reach before the fish go bad. As a result town and village are the only place the fish are served. Which means those who like the taste of the fish have to go to either town or village to enjoy it. Then a wizard comes on the scene with
Lonely Road available. Now the fishing village has more destinations for the fish. And a call for more fish. Which means more and more intensive fishing. I will leave the consequences to your agile minds.
Neighbor’s Greeting: Call this an icebreaker, for that’s what it is. People rely on first impressions, and something that improves another’s reaction is helpful. That said, it’s also a great dweomer for conmen and montebanks. For trust is vital in their work.
Phantom Firelight: We all know that orcs and goblins and similar critters have Dark Vison. But what if it’s really
Phantom Firelight? The party wizard gets to cast See Invisible and learns the secret.
The spell produces an invisible flame about the caster’s head. A Flaming Carrot sort of thing. He and those he designates can see by the light of the flame, but no one else. Really meant for small groups. Since medieval fantasy cities are not known for their illumination at night
Phantom Firelight would also be useful coming home from the tavern late at night. “Linkboy” guilds may offer the service for carousers who can afford it.
Sanctify Path: You have somebody who needs to get somewhere this is the spell for you. It makes the route safer, unlike
Lonely Road, which creates the route.
Sanctify Path also has a number of drawbacks. For one, the traveler can’t deviate from the path. For any reason. A town needs help? Won’t get it if it’s off the path. The traveler meets and falls in love wih someone along the way? Sorry, he has to continue on.
Sanctify Path places a heavy burden on the recipient, for one can never confidently predict how a journey will go.
However, if one happens to have a group that has a serious problem with staying on track, putting a
Sanctify Path on them could solve many a problem.
Settle Pack: Whatever a character is wearing or carrying settles into the most comfortable place to wear or carry. You get the feeling Nodwick uses a more powerful version of this spell?
As a matter of fact, one could come up with a version of this that could be cast on others that would help a lot with pack animals and bearers. That said, this dweomer puts a premium on large, strong wizards. (It does make me wonder; what is the Armor Class of a backpack filled with 100 pounds of gold?)
Steed Mark: Makes it easier to use a steed unfamiliar with the caster. Since horses are creatures of habit, they tend to do what they’ve done before. A person they’ve trusted before, regardless of how the trust came about, is a person they tend to trust later. One might use
Steed Mark when training horses, to make the job easier.
Traveler’s Trance: Another useful spell for the traveler, but one that has costs. It’s really recommended for short journeys, for the fatigue of a long trip could result in injury or even death. But if you need to get somewhere
Traveler’s Trance is a great help.
Combined with
Sanctify Path and/or
Lonely Road a
Traveler’s Trance could be used to insure one gets to one’s destination. Tired perhaps, but where one intends to be.
Walker’s Baton: This is the last of the spells, and the one with a lot of potential for amusement. It animates a walking stick, cane, or similar item, which then heads off all on it’s own. The spell also creates fake footprints to accompany the perambulating baton, useful for misleading trackers.
The spell description also mentions the spell’s use to send messages to friends and acquaintances. Another use would be as a prop in a theatrical production. To represent the ghost of a notable for example.
There’s also an appendix with two alchemical concoctions, but since this is long enough, I’ll leave them for you to read up on.
Overall The
Longstrider’s Journal is worth the price and can add much to one’s game.
