Vacation - All I ever wanted

[liato]

I think there have been rumblings in the CBS of taking a vacation. Al, in particular, wants us to take a vacation before we attacked the Nerul temple. If we actually make it out of this place it might be a good time to take a few months off.

Assuming I'm offered a position in the CBS, or course. Otherwise I suppose I can take as long a vacation as I want.

I think we should take at least 3 months.

Here are some generic things we can do during that time.
1) Set defenses for the house.
2) Hire people to take care of the house.
3) Identify all our items.
4) Organize spell books.
5) Learn a new language (or at least start)
6) Learn any trade skills we want (alchemy, first aid, gem appraisal, armor/weapon repair, horsemanship)
7) Actively recruit new members
8) Consolidate our money holdings
9) Build up logistical reserves (magic ink, identification pearls, healing salves)
10) Become upstanding members of the community (build relationships with the local government/church/merchants, etc)

Here are some things that I'd like to do personally:
1) Find and train a couple of new pets
2) Establish a grove on our grounds with berries and healing herbs.
3) Make relationships with the forest community.



Any other ideas?

[Ginger]

We should also think of simple ways we can generate income. As a level 7 figher (a "Champion":), I'm probably above acting as a bouncer in a bar. I'm probably not above guarding a simple caravan for a weeklong trip. It's also the kind of thing that we can hopefully resolve without taking any game time, as it's very unlikely that we'll encounter resistance.

Maybe we can have Winthrop and Dell set up a magic shop of sorts?

[liato]

We should decide how involved in the community we want to be.

I'm not sure how useful a magic shop is, but a security company is a good idea. Setting up some sort of storefront where people can get in contact with us would be very useful. It would definitely give us more leverage when hiring recruits.

We could solicit merchants and the government. That might give us access to wholesale pricing.

[liato]

We should also try to track down former members of the CBS to see where they are/ their stuff is.

[Dell]

Adventures are for generating income. Down time is for spending it on sleepers and cocaine.

Dell's going to take a trip to Monmorg after we get back - he'll do some company business there.

[Dell]

A storefront???

When we go into town, people try to kill us. Letting them know what address to send the fireball sounds like a bad idea.

A magic shop is out of the question, at least in Longspear. There's a reason that the Silent One is the only wizard of note in this town, and it's probably not because he politely asked them to leave. The Silent One is also higher level than the wizard that nearly ate our lunch.

[liato]

So we're the top secret mercenary company. Just like the A-Team.

I don't have a problem with people coming to try to kill us. It'd be nice to fire at them from behind a shieldwall while they try to navigate a series of Snares, pit traps, and magic mouths for a change.

Probably a better idea than a storefront would be setting up permanent mailboxes at a few towns which people can use to contact us. We can set up fliers and tell people to send requests to the local mailbox. Not that we don't have enough loose ends on our own.

[Dell]

We have all sorts of missions pending already, we aren't really at a place where we need to look for work. As for messages, we can have them sent to the banks or merchants where we keep our money.

[Mr. Trommer]

The way we spend money we can't afford to rest. Spells and spell books aren't cheap as you all know. We can rest the next time one of us needs serious training. If I ever make it to seventh level that will be a good month or more. Or when I have to train Dell.

I say we take a break from fighting Nerull evil and go after the slaver evil and San (just on general principles of course.)

A risky move would be to barter with Elmo on trading some of our Arch-Mage spells for spells and stuff.

[Dell]

Winthrop said:

The way we spend money we can't afford to rest. Spells and spell books aren't cheap as you all know. We can rest the next time one of us needs serious training. If I ever make it to seventh level that will be a good month or more. Or when I have to train Dell.

I say we take a break from fighting Nerull evil and go after the slaver evil and San (just on general principles of course.)

A risky move would be to barter with Elmo on trading some of our Arch-Mage spells for spells and stuff.

Well, it's likely that Dell made 5th level after last week, so he'll need training soon so he can cast lightning bolts. That will take a while. And of course we need to visit Monmorg, and check on our dangling plot threads. And like I said, we can have Elmo copy all our spells - I think it was one of the conditions of Dell's apprenticeship, actually. That way if we lose the spellbooks, we have backups. Elmo can be trusted - he's insane, but trustworthy.

[liato]

There's a good chance that I'll be 6th level and get level 4 spells which require training.

If I'm 6th level I can get two 6HD animal pets. Basically that's two extra fighters equivalent to the lion figurine only we don't have to summon them. It will take me at least 6 weeks to train them and probably a month to track them down. If we didn't have to rush Al back I know that there's a lion around here.

[Dell]

Plus, Al will need a few weeks to recuperate from being dead. So it looks like we'll be taking time off, no matter what.

[Ginger]

I also need to get a new +1 Bow. I'm sick of doing 6-16 damage per shot. I need to do 8-18!!!

[Dell]

Get some more silver arrows, while you're at it.

[Mr. Trommer]

I believe we still have Ed's special bow stored someplace. Momurg perhaps? I don't recall what strength is was made for.

[Dell]

Ed's bow is a shortbow, and it's made for 18 strength. So it's no good for Raven. We can sell it, or maybe trade it. So getting a special bow for Raven at Archer's Bluff is also on our holiday shopping list, ok?

[Mr. Trommer]

Since we use the strength spell so often it would be good to have along for those occasions. N'est pas? Be it Raven, Al (if he gets better) or someone else.

[Ginger]

I have several times considered getting a +3 bow. With my current strength of 16, a Strength spell will make me +2 on a roll of 2, and +3 on a roll of 3 or above. If I'm using a +3 bow, my arrows hit for 12-22 damage each. That's a whole lot of damage. Getting a +2 bow "only" makes damage 10-20 per arrow, but the chances of a strength spell failing drops to 1/8.

[Dell]

Admittedly, the additional damage from a +2 or +3 bow on every hit would be nice. However:

The Strength spell takes 10 rounds to cast - if we're caught unprepared, you're carrying a weapon that you can't use. We could say that Winthrop casts the spell every morning, but even that leaves us open to middle of the night attacks. Also, we regularly encounter things that your arrows can't affect. Scary things. And lastly, extra plusses cost extra gold. Not that we don't have the gold, but it's something to think about.

[Ginger]

I'd definitely also get a +1 bow. A +2 or +3 bow would probably stay strapped to our horses or something like that, and then I'd only use it when we were going into a fight.

[liato]

If I remember correctly, you can buy off the shelf +1 bows but you have to get +2 bows commissioned. there aren't that many elves with 18 str.

[Ginger]

There's an archery school/camp a day or so south of Longspear. They could quite likely have a whole range of specialty bows available. Maybe during our vacation time I can learn how to make bows? That would be really sweet.

[Mr. Trommer]

You need to carry a tower shield with fold out sides that can be set up so you can hide behind for cover without having to hold it up. Hmm maybe I need one of those.

[Ginger]

Winthrop said:

You need to carry a tower shield with fold out sides that can be set up so you can hide behind for cover without having to hold it up. Hmm maybe I need one of those.

I think that hirelings and/or Unseen Servants would be sturdier.