The Royal Artificery Society - OOC II: electric boogaloo

[WindStruck]

Wow, am I getting cursed again or what?

Well, at least we could say recent events have probably distracted Shandara... and maybe the arcana part can prop up a kind of bad appraise roll.

[DeTess]

Wow, am I getting cursed again or what?

Well, at least we could say recent events have probably distracted Shandara... and maybe the arcana part can prop up a kind of bad appraise roll.

Would Shandara be more likely to over or underestimate the costs?

[WindStruck]

Hm. Maybe over-estimate. Considering she likely does think highly of her work, and also, I bet it's not like people usually give her good deals?

Edit: Oh, I think I need to clarify what the rolls were for.

So the Captain Tar wanted to not only know if such forensic magic was possible, but also have an idea of how long it would take to develop, and how many resources it would take to actually research the magic and have it useable in some fashion by his street level cops.

Shandara is attempting to estimate those prices now. So there's several items here:

- ballpark estimate on research time (in manhours, or perhaps weeks or months), if such a feat is even feasible
- another ballpark estimate on the total costs on the research alone, and a list of some certain rare items or.. people with certain qualities
- and then, if such spells were possible to develop based on the above research, the estimated cost for a wand, scroll, or recharging wand (like the ones she tried out in the lab)

[DeTess]

Okay, let's see. Based on how far you've judged your research has gone, developing and optimizing the spell you have been working on would take maybe 3-4 more weeks. You still have some obstacles though (especially in the safety department for the user), and you'd either need Whitecliff's full cooperation, or full access to the Steiner papers to clear those (or you could put yourself at risk or do some highly unethical human experimentation). Getting access to those papers would be a hassle, but wouldn't be too costly, though you'd need the captain's cooperation.

Now, as for costs for wands, it depends on how far you can optimize the spell (in other words, how small a spell slot can you fit it in). 3rd level would be very doable, which would run around 5.5 k per wand in material costs, but you could more than halve those costs if you could bring it down to a 2nd level slot. You can't really judge if that is feasible at this point though.

[WindStruck]

Okay. Well I think that wraps up that night, and now Aiden is probably done piecing together the whole violin.. He would be bringing that over so Shandara can finish applying all the enchantments.

Does Aiden want to RP another visit, or have we been there and done that?

[WindStruck]

Hm. At this rate, maybe skip any RP interaction and assume Shandara takes the day to finish enchanting the violin. Will that take the whole day?

[DeTess]

Let's say it takes about 2/3s of a day. does not leave you with much time for other projects, but does give you a bit of free time for a social visit if you want to.

You also receive a letter the next day (see the IC thread).

[WindStruck]

Well.. a social interaction would be difficult with Prehysterical and MrAbdiel seemingly MIA.. could just be holidays too. But yeah.

So I guess the plan is, finish up the violin, go visit Gerard Oakhome, and then present that violin to the bard at the ranger's guild the next "day" (afternoon) with Aiden?

[DeTess]

Sounds like a plan!

[WindStruck]

Oh, right. How do I go about charging the gem on the violin? You know, for the spell that is supposed to extend the protection from various elements to nearby party members? I think it's just sonic, lightning, and acid, seeing as the tundra oak itself is resistant to ice and fire.

[DeTess]

Oh, right. How do I go about charging the gem on the violin? You know, for the spell that is supposed to extend the protection from various elements to nearby party members? I think it's just sonic, lightning, and acid, seeing as the tundra oak itself is resistant to ice and fire.

You can just put some magical energy in it (aka spell slots and the like). In character it's a bit like channeling magic to cast a spell, but you don't shape it like you would with a spell, instead pushing it to the gem. The enchantment on the gem will do the rest.

[WindStruck]

Okay. Well. She should have some leftover energy in the day to do that before she goes to sleep I think.

[DeTess]

Merry christmas everyone!

[WindStruck]

You too!

[MrAbdiel]

Merry Christmas to you both! Sorry for my MIA. Windstruck's seen my excuse in two other threads, but you deserve an apology too, DeTess:

All I can do is apologize again. I appreciate your toleration, guys. My excuse is lame - I sort of found myself the Admin for the Discord of Lava Lash, the main RP server in the current Season of Discovery expansion of WoW. I thought we'd get like 40 members and then I'd give it up and merge it with someone else's discord; but somehow there's like 600 people in there now and I'm anxious about trying to make it.. accommodating and helpful, and it stole much of my attention, and made it easy to rationalize neglecting my posts here. Sorry.

Not sure about Prehysterical, though he doesn't strike me as a flaker, and his last posts mentioned the winter program he's been involved in running, so I expect he's just snowed in, so to speak.

[Prehysterical]

Yeah, between the winter program and visiting family out-of-state over the holidays, December was a very busy month for me. I wanted to give all of my attention to my mom and my siblings during the limited time that we had together. (It's a ten-hour drive for me to visit them, so I effectively spend two days of vacation just driving by myself.)

I certainly hope that the holidays were as kind to you as they were to me. I can also sympathize with the "suffering from success", MrAbdiel. *lol* Christmas on the Prairie was a major success and we received visits from schools that we normally never see. With it being a free program, of course we get swamped, but it gives the poorer schools a chance to participate.

I'm still in catch-up mode from the holidays at both work and my online gaming. I'll see if I can get a reply up tonight, but I make no promises. I can promise a reply within the next few days at the latest.

Thank you all for being patient and Happy New Year!

[DeTess]

@windstruck, what do you want to do next?

[WindStruck]

Sorry I haven't been around the site lately. Hmm.

We should be delivering that enchanted violin now, but I think MrAbdiel may be absent again.

I guess I'll just keep working on this research/report plot, and maybe if or when MrAbdiel shows up we can have RP it out in some sort of timeline that makes sense.

I think there's one day of research left for Shandara.

[DeTess]

Sounds about right. And I'll obviously massage the timeline around a bit once they're back to make everything fit.

@prehysterical, not entirely sure if you're around, but if you are, want me to set up something for you untill mrabdiel is back?

[Prehysterical]

I'm not going to criticize, since I haven't really been around myself.

I glossed over his post a while back, but haven't examined the whole thing in detail. Let me answer that and we can go from there.

[MrAbdiel]

Sorry I haven't been around the site lately. Hmm.

We should be delivering that enchanted violin now, but I think MrAbdiel may be absent again.

I guess I'll just keep working on this research/report plot, and maybe if or when MrAbdiel shows up we can have RP it out in some sort of timeline that makes sense.

I think there's one day of research left for Shandara.

I'm here! I've just been having hell getting the website to work for the last week or two. Lots of pages failing to load, hanging for minutes at a time, dumping posts. The forum staff are apparently aware of it; I have no idea if it's a server thing or what, but it was pretty widespread. Seems to be working now, though!

[DeTess]

I'm here! I've just been having hell getting the website to work for the last week or two. Lots of pages failing to load, hanging for minutes at a time, dumping posts. The forum staff are apparently aware of it; I have no idea if it's a server thing or what, but it was pretty widespread. Seems to be working now, though!

I had similar issues, with the website occasionally super slow. Seems fine now though.

I don't think Aiden has looked into how the long range transport is going to work yet, had he?

Also:

The spectre of that melancholy thought blunders into his mind for a second before it is snatched by the shoulders and dragged into the back alleys of his cognition for a good thrashing. Sad thoughts did not long survive, in the mind of Aiden Sorveaux. All is well, in that place. No hint of sadness even makes it to his eyes.

I'm going to need to start working on a therapist npc for Aiden, aren't I?

[MrAbdiel]

I had similar issues, with the website occasionally super slow. Seems fine now though.

I don't think Aiden has looked into how the long range transport is going to work yet, had he?

He has not! He put that speculation in his initial draft and submitted it right away because of fear of running out of time. Wisdom 8!

Also:


I'm going to need to start working on a therapist npc for Aiden, aren't I?

Whatever do you mean? :D

Actually, it occured to me after I posted that, that Aiden DOES know an artist - the curly haired halfling who drafted the logo for the Saw and Fiddle! To whom he promised to appear at a party for a bunch of artists to play music for them, pending more information! I think that just sort of slipped through in the light of other projects but that might crop up at some point also!

EDIT: But Therapy RP would be sort of amusing for Aiden.

[WindStruck]

Okay here's for the writing down copious amounts of data idea: spellcraft (1d20+16)[21]

And here's for the illusions idea. Going to use investigative mind on this one.

(1d20+16)[32] or (1d20+16)[26]


Speaking of which, I completely forgot about libraries granting bonuses. Probably for a long while. These are just the values listed on Shandara's sheet.

[DeTess]

No issues recording it all. For the illusion idea you would need some medium to hold the info untill the illusions are done. This is far from impossible but does mean you need a special (reuseable)focus crystal that would cost about 500gp.

[WindStruck]

No issues recording it all. For the illusion idea you would need some medium to hold the info untill the illusions are done. This is far from impossible but does mean you need a special (reuseable)focus crystal that would cost about 500gp.

Okay. I guess that's going into the report as well.

What is your take on the illusion idea by the way? Might it actually be a useful thing to reenact a scene or maybe view an object's past for a bit?

[DeTess]

Oh, yes, I think it's definitely useful!

[MrAbdiel]

Sorry I haven't been around the site lately. Hmm.

We should be delivering that enchanted violin now, but I think MrAbdiel may be absent again.

I guess I'll just keep working on this research/report plot, and maybe if or when MrAbdiel shows up we can have RP it out in some sort of timeline that makes sense.

I think there's one day of research left for Shandara.

Oh, and yes I agree, I think we're done! All the mechanical rolls and stuff are done; Aiden may spend an hour or two tuning it now that it's all done. But we're ready to turn it in and split the reward!

[DeTess]

Do you want me to set up the scene for delivering the violin?

[MrAbdiel]

I think so. Bolten is looped in on Aiden's wild ambition for now, and after he shares his wisdom or lack thereof about portal magic, they'll probably finish their tea and wander off to their own projects. Perhaps after that, Aiden will meet with Shandara to deliver the violin.