Begin [Week 2, Month 2, Year 1]





This message was last edited by the GM at 13:36, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

The magic they taught Birk was perhaps not quite as good as what he'd taught them, but at least it should be usable - a flashier spell, like breathing fire or withering fields, would end up being more situational.
It doesn't help the mood much, though.
Ronja still skims the same reports over and over, hoping to somehow find a solution that doesn't involve taking far too long to do far too little.
Birk himself still tries to get some rooms cleaned out while Ronja's busy, only to have to abandon the idea when it's clear they need proper supports (which they pretty much knew, but he figured it'd be worth a shot)

After a few days, when people are rested and no brilliant solution's appeared from thin air, the 'workers' (for lack of a better term) are called together for the weekly 'here's what you're going to do this week' orders.
The gist of it is that while of course she is aware of the dwindling food supplies, the situation is quite under control - and besides, the supplies will last out the month.
So for now, they need to get to the not-quite-abandoned mine - before it's mined out by its owners.
Given how it's left unguarded for so long at a time, presumably until the original prospector runs out of what he gathered last time, it seems likely they don't realize that malachite's more than just a copper ore; Polish it right and you essentially get a green semi-precious gemstone, with a nice pattern to it.
A gem-mine, even if it's one of the more common stones, guarded as though it was a copper-mine is quite a good find, if your morals are a bit flexible.
Of course, none of the 'forts-people' are jewelers; Knowing what's valuable enough to stuff in a pocket's about the limit of their education on gems.
So, they'll probably end up polishing a couple of bits, and try to find a jeweler interested in more raw material that 'fell off a wagon' - though if they can't find any, it shouldn't be too hard (they think) to make some mediocre figurines, necklaces, and so on.
With a scout or two placed some way down the make-shift road, in case they get a 'visit' sooner than they'd like, the 'ex'-bandits (and newer recruits) set to work with pick and spade.
There's not much need to clean up; Two 'hauls' of ore, whether it's one by Ronja's crew and one by the rightful owner, or two by Ronja, is about what's left (or at least there wouldn't be enough left to bother with a third) - there might or might not be more ordinary copper ore further in, but not the malachite they want.
In other words, after the next time the prospector comes by, there's no more point in sneaking in; If they post guards after seeing there'd been thieves, it won't matter since it's already too late for Ronja.

Name	Start	Action	Target	End	Notes
Ronja	H8	Assist the Wild Minds	G8	H8	Bringing the Donkey
Birk	H8	Assist the Wild Minds	G8	H8
Wild Minds	H8	Harvest (Gold, Normal)	G8	H8	Intent: Get gold, lots of it. Sorry if I'm stretching your 'idea' of 'gold'; You didn't tell me exactly what the node represented this time, so I did my best at trying to be creative <.< Remember: Has Earthen and Construction tools.
Fairhairs	H8	Assist the Wild Minds	G8	H8

This message was last edited by the player at 08:51, Wed 23 Sept 2015.

With precision-focus and careful instructions to your workers in mind and spoken-aloud; everyone begins to dig in the prospector's mine for anything of even the remotest value.  Birk diagrams carefully a few different looks and striations of various minerals that might be found here; and soon a bevy of gemstones begin falling from veins of dross and dirt!

You almost weep at your fortune.  It was clear whoever had been digging here before did not have a keen eye for minerals of value.  As malachite and jasper begin to become visible, Ronja begins polishing with a fervor.  You know these will trade well wherever you deal with experienced merchants.  You saddle-up as many bags as you can and disappear back to Berg Fortress in the middle of the night.

[ Your Usurpation achieves an Astounding Success in Harvesting from the Normal Gold Node in (G8)! ]
[ You gain 2 Skill XP, which must be assigned as Digger.  Reply with whomever receives the XP. ]
[ You gain 2 Leveling XP.  Reply with whomever receives the XP. ]
[ You return with 12 Gold! ]

Gold 2->14
Fairhairs: Digger 0->2, 1+1=2xp. Level 1->2, Speed F->VF
Wild Minds: Level 1->2, Defense 1->2

Begin [Week 3, Month 2, Year 1]





This message was last edited by the GM at 11:09, Fri 09 Oct 2015.

"We've got coin (well, coin-equivalents), so let's get some food. I'll take the elves to go get what we've already found, but Birk and the rest will go see what's to find south of where we're going." Ronja straps on her pack, and everyone heads out.
Most likely, she'd have split it between humans and elves (rather than have a human lead the elf group, and visa versa), except Birk had that new magic thing going on and could really use some practice being the scout-specialist between the two.

The find wasn't amazing, but it'd be too risky to wait another week to get the report from the scouts; No time to buy more if they fail to bring back enough after that.
But they only need a month's worth to 'survive', and have a large stretch of plains to go through (and no real qualms about stealing)
If they go nocturnal, camping out during the day and sneaking around during the night, they should miss most of the 'sunrise to sundown' farmers.
A few barrels of wheat grabbed from sleeping farms, some apples and other fruit, maybe even some meat if they find any neglected life-stock (lazy sheep-herders, careless cow-ranchers, etcetera) - there's a lot of food to be found.
Mind, they have to be careful; Take a sheep now and then, and 'trim' their fields, they'll assume it's wolves and vagrants. Clearcut a field and take their cows out of secure barns, and they'll start searching for bandits (which is bad if you're essentially a bandit-queen)
Not to mention they'd prefer not to kill anyone.

Name	Start	Action	Target	End	Notes
Ronja	H8	Assist the Fairhairs	F6	H8	With Donkey
Birk	H8	Assist the Wild Minds	F7	H8
Wild Minds	H8	Scout	F7	H8	Has Spyglass. Remember bonus. Intent: Find another cache.
Fairhairs	H8	Harvest (Food)	F6	H8	Has Earth Tools.

Scouring the plains for provisions proves to be incredibly easy.  It seems that patrols had been redirected further north to deal with an incursion of Orcs; and, all available forces were levied to handle the issue.  You manage to sneak back into the smokehouse and gather several barrels of choice meats and fruits with ease.

[ Ronja and the Fairhairs achieve an Astounding Success in Harvesting from the Normal Food Node (F6) ]
[ You gain 2 Leveling XP. ]
[ You gain 2 Skill XP, which must be assigned as Forager. ]
[ They return with 10 Foodstuffs. ]
[ This Node is exhausted. ]

[ Birk and the Wild Minds achieve a Significant Success in Scouting (F7) ]
[ You gain 1 Leveling XP. ]
[ Due to the Human Bonus of the Wild Minds and the Scholar Bonus from Birk, you gain 2 Skill XP; which must be assigned as either Scout or Spy. ]
[ You discover an Exceptional Food Node
[ You discover a CP!
They are buying Melee Weapons and Shields.
They are selling Foodstuffs and Donkeys
Because you brought a Leader on your first visit, you gain a free diplomacy check.  Because Birk is not a human, the attitude status begins at Hostile.
[ You achieve a Significant Success in conducting Diplomacy with Maplecross! ]
[ You gain 1 Skill XP, which must be assigned as Negotiator. ]
[ Unfortunately, this was insufficient to raise your attitude status with Maplecross. ]

This message was last edited by the GM at 05:54, Fri 02 Oct 2015.

8 foodstuffs stored (2 discarded; Don't have space)
Fairhairs: Forager 0->2, 1+1=2xp
Wild Minds: Level 2->3, Strength 1->2. Scout 5->7, 1+1=2xp
Birk: Negotiator 1->2, 1xp

Begin [Week 4, Month 2, Year 1]






This message was last edited by the GM at 11:09, Fri 09 Oct 2015.

Correction: Did not see Fairhair leveling XP, Fairhairs: Level 2->4, Max Tools 1->2, Defense 1->2, 1+1=2xp - sorry, my fault entirely (unless there was some secret GM-hidden edit)

Their stores are filled to bursting with food (literally; They had to reinforce some of the less intact storage crates, since they were starting to crack under the weight)
So, since they don't need to head over to the town quite yet (though they'll want wood soon) they can head back to the mine.
After some discussion, they specifically decide Ronja'll take the elves to the mine - she did a good job gathering it last time, plus it's more her style - while Birk looks into the rumors about architects (they could use the help) and the wildminds head out to find some proper stone.

Name	Start	Action	Target	End	Notes
Ronja	H8	Assist Fairhairs	G8	H8
Birk	H8	Explore	H6	H8	Has the donkey. Intent: Finding the Architect the World Effect gives a bonus to finding
Wild Minds	H8	Scout	H9	H8	Unofficial intent: Finding stone, ideally one big find but if there's a smaller 'side find' I'd prefer caches to bad nodes
Fairhairs	H8	Harvest (Gold)	G8	H8

This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Wed 07 Oct 2015.

[ Ronja and the Fairhairs achieve a partial success in Harvesting from the Normal Gold Node (G8). ]
[ You return with 5 Gold. ]
[ This node is exhausted. ]

[ Birk successfully Explores (H6). ]
[ You receive an offer:
An architect will Construct any 1 Room for you for 12 Gold. (takes no time, nor resources.)
]

[ The Wild Minds achieve a Significant Success in Scouting (H9). ]
[ You gain 1 Leveling XP. ]
[ You gain 1 Skill XP, which must be assigned as Scout. ]
[ You discover a CP:

]
[ You discover a Normal Stone Node.  It has an estimated 3 uses remaining. ]

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:25, Fri 09 Oct 2015.

Gold 14->19
Pay architect: gold 19->7, build Mysterious Room.
Wild Minds: Level 3->4, Offense 2->3, Scout 7->8
Midas: Gold 7->11
Upkeep: Gold 11->1, Food 8->6
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Sun 11 Oct 2015.

Begin [Week 1, Month 3, Year 1]







[ Intelligence Network: +10 Scout (G9). ]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:36, Mon 12 Oct 2015.

Ronja sighs and tosses the last of the monthly updates back on the pile; Like most of the rest, it basically said the best place to find anything in the immediate future would be around the neighboring city.
That not being an option in her mind, especially since the flat-lands seem the least tempting at the moment, her best idea's sending her boy friend who happens to be male, Birk, along with the Wild Minds to look for some forgotten treasure (or whatever they can sell) around the tower.

For herself, it's really about time they bridge some of the rooms (the gap's not that big, after all. Building across it shouldn't be harder than building above the ground floor, which the original builders had already done)
The most obvious choice being the meet-up for the spies and such, which could sorely use more space for maps and records, to get a better idea of where to find what resources.
And they'd already done the work of finding a good out-of-the-way quarry-spot (or, rather, Birk and company did), so now they just need to head over to break the rocks up into usable chunks - given the intended use, the bigger the better, as long as they don't become cumbersome to transport, since one big rock's more stable than many smaller ones held together with mortar and faith.

Name	Start	Action	Target	End	Notes
Ronja	H8	Assist Fairhairs	H9	H8	With Donkey
Birk	H8	Assist Wild Minds	H7	H8
Wild Minds	H8	Scout	H7	H8	Probably-still-unofficial Intent: Finding some gold, before more 'expenses' show up. Pretty sure I need a lvl 2 (rather than 1) spymaster for actual node-intents.
Fairhairs	H8	Harvest Stone	H9	H8

As Birk departed, the Elf braced himself against the chill wind.  It had been a welcome reprieve to live in the warmth for the time he had; but, it was necessary to find a source of wealth and soon.

Ducking into a low cave, you hear sharp drips- a sure sign of water and thus natural erosion.  Following the trill echoes you eventually find a hollow cavern; your torch lights gleaming off of a small pond of water and lighting the an excellent site for a stone quarry within.  Even a few flecks of gold shine-through.  It doesn't look like much, but, it's something.

[ Ronja and the Fairhairs achieve achieve a Significant Success in Harvesting Stone from the Normal Stone Node in (H9). ]
[ You gain 1 Leveling XP, which must be assigned to the Fairhairs. ]
[ You gain 1 Skill XP, which must be assigned as Stonecutter. ]
[ You return with 9 Stone. ]

[ Birk and the Wild Minds succeeds in Scouting (H7). ]
[ You discover a Normal Stone Node.  It has an estimated 3 uses remaining. ]
[ You discover a Poor Gold Node.  It has an estimated 1 use remaining. ]

Fairhairs: Level 4->5, Strength 1->2
Ronja: Stonecutter 0->1
Stone 7->16

Begin [Week 2, Month 3, Year 1]







[ Intelligence Network: +10 Scout (G9). ]

As mentioned before, the plan for the stone was to add some flooring.
Walking around on something they know doesn't have anything but an abyss underneath will take some getting used to, but on the other hand they'd be just as dead if they 'merely' had one of the stairs collapse instead and tumbled down several floors of solid rock and hard edges - in other words, it's scary, but rationally speaking it's not as bad as it might seem (compared to the rest)
Mostly, they just need the floorspace so they can keep more detailed notes in a more 'visual' way (models of terrain, maps with figurines and notes, whatever) so they can plan out more of the scouting missions - in particular, it'd be good to get a good outline of what areas are 'suited' for what resources; Rock-types that can contain valuables, fertile land suitable for farming, and so on, so they can more reliably guess what they'll find.

While the rest of the 'band' works on the castle, the elves head out to sift through the gold-flecked mud and gravel that had been recently found.
They didn't have any pre-made sifts, but some makeshift ones can be made easily enough with 'fine' wire-netting nailed to some scraps of wood to hold on to and/or hold the dirt inside.
It'd been the wild-minds instead, except they're needed for their tool-using expertise in the construction work.

Name	Start	Action	Target	End	Notes
Ronja	H8	Assist Wild Minds	H8	H8
Birk	H8	Assist Wild Minds	H8	H8
Wild Minds	H8	Renovate Spymaster's Suite	H8	H8	I intend to choose the 'Choose the node' bonus. Tools shuffled around.
Fairhairs	H8	Gather Resource (Gold)	H7	H8

This message was last edited by the player at 00:25, Wed 21 Oct 2015.

The conditions were dismal in the dank and damp old quarry.  Finding your way through the heavy, but eroded stone took time.  Precious time.  As the embers to your first few torches let-out their last dying spark, you manage to relocate a few of the golden veins.  As the Fairhairs begin setting-in with their tools, a few take time to investigate and insure each other against a cave-in.

[ Fairhairs achieve a Partial Success in Harvesting from the Poor Gold Node (H7) ]
[ They return with 1 Gold. ]
[ This node is exhausted. ]

[ Ronja, Birk, and the The Wild Minds achieve a Significant success in Renovating the Spymaster's Suite in (H8). ]
[ You gain 1 Leveling XP, which must be assigned to the Fairhairs. ]
[ Thanks to the combined Scholar Bonus, You gain 2 Skill XP, which must be assigned as Mason. ]
[ You save 2 Stone, consuming only 8 Stone. ]

Gold 1->2
Fairhairs: Level 5->6, Offense 2->3
Ronja: Mason 1->3, 1+1=2xp
Stone 16->8

Begin [Week 3, Month 3, Year 1]







[ Intelligence Network: +10 Scout (G9). ]

The payout of the last trip to gather trade-goods was so low it didn't even pay for the effort of gathering it (quite literally; They spent a quarter of a month to gather goods worth about a fifth of a month's pay for the workers)
So the remaining time until payday will be split in half; The first half'll go to finding the best spot they can, then they'll resupply back at the fort and in theory head out to gather goods the last half.
Time's limited, so they'll have to choose a part of the mountain-range to focus on (the western third's chosen, mostly arbitrarily)

Luckily, though, the new-and-improved scout-HQ has in-depth notes on the rock-types found, as well as essentially a 'Dummy's Guide to Geology' - specifically, notes cobbled together from what the scouts could squeeze out of actual geologists regarding where and how to find various 'precious' rocks and metals.
They will still have to wander around looking for the signs, but at least this way they should be able to recognize enough of the little clues to essentially prospect themselves (rather than hope to just stumble across someone else's mine)
And they'd still have an edge on other prospectors; They don't have to care about property rights.
Though, of course, finding another mine would make things easier.


Since I forgot to state it properly last time (though it was stated in the actual actions), for the record: The bonus I chose for the Spymaster is 'You may choose the first result when scouting (Node [type], Enemies, Cache, or CP)'

Name	Start	Action	Target	End	Notes
Ronja	H8	Assist Wild Minds	G8	H8	Riding the donkey
Birk	H8	Assist Wild Minds	G8	H8
Wild Minds	H8	Scout (Node[Gold])	G8	H8	Intent: Finding a Gold Node, with the secondary not-specified-by-Spymaster result, should there be one, ideally being a cache
Fairhairs	H8	Assist Wild Minds	G8	H8

Finding purchase within the mountains is getting easier with the warming spring time.  Scouring the rocky clefts, you deftly avoid notice of any hostile forces as you meander among the some of the areas that have recently thawed.  Spotting several caves that were frozen-over, the natural erosion of the dripping water seeking to hollow-out the areas over the years; you easily find suitable caves that lead into deep tunnels.

Marveling at the glittering cache of beautiful gems and gold veins, you almost regret sending the Fairhairs elsewhere last week with such a glorious deposit before you!

[ Your Usurpation achieves an Astounding Success in Scouting (G8)! ]
[ You gain 2 Leveling XP. ]
[ You gain 2 Skill XP, which must be assigned as Scout or Spy. ]
[ You discover a Grand Gold Node.  It has an estimated 4 uses remaining. ]
[ You discover a CP:
]
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:27, Mon 26 Oct 2015.

Wild Minds: Scout 8->9* (1+1=2xp, 9->10 would cost 2xp even with the discount), Level 4->6, Defense 2->3, Strength 2->3

Begin [Week 4, Month 3, Year 1]








[ Intelligence Network: +10 Scout (G9). ]