It would be at least 30 days from when he placed the order. If you guys want to wait around for the bottle that's fine. I'm more interested in what you're doing after that.

If you wan to wait around, we'll just jump ahead the 30 days and go from there.

Which contract do you want Geological Institute one or the Science & Tech one?

The Science and Tech one sounds more interesting and plays to our respective strengths.

Definitely agree, the Science and Tech sounds fun, with the involvement of Nether and remote dig sites.

Also, is that guy bringing the wine bottles only to the Order, or does he bring them to other places as well?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Wed 30 Jan 2019.

Yes, good question, we had a month time to observe him, with several trips to the Order, he must have had other trips, who else does he frequent (and does he ever bring wine)?
And I agree with the Tech, we may even get some cool stuff at the end, sounds fun, but we may have to kill everyone in the end because we realize they are digging out something extremely dangerous that would put the world at risk ;)

Good line of investigation there; I've added comments to that in IC.

The characters have about a week before they head out, so if there are any preparations you want to do let me know. This would mostly involve purchasing gear, either permanently with character points, or for temporary use using money/wealth.

In total you can expect to be gone up to 100days or more, so plan accordingly. From what research you can do about the general climate of where the dig is taking place it should be more temperate than Ossylia, more like northern mountainous regions of the kingdom than the coastal lowlands.

How many days will we be on the boat and can Vanyra research flora/fauna before going?

Vanyra wants to get some basic gear to help with survival and make sure that the others have appropriate gear themselves, including appropriate clothing and sleeping gear/packs.  She doesn't need her teammates getting hypothermia or anything like that.  Firestarter, water containers, utility knife, etc.

Normally, she can get enough food water for herself and several people while still traveling as fast as a normal person, but this will be a bit bigger.

There would probably be some books at the Academy Library about the flora and fauna in that general part of the world, though it may be difficult to get much on that particular island.

I'm not sure how long you'll be on a boat, as that depends if you're travelling by sea-going boat or an air ship.

Also, I'm travelling up to Calgary tomorrow for a ski trip and thus will be MIA from Thursday to Sunday. Then on Monday I'm leaving for a business trip to Japan until the 17th, so I'll be intermittent during that time as well. I'll try to stay on top of posts as much as possible though.

Was there any way to determine if he appears to be just a messenger, or which contacts he seems to be bringing new/gifts/messages to, and which ones he may receive instructions from? Any way to observe some of the meetings? And what is the frequency he interacted with each group? Is the Order his most frequent contact?

As for equipment, a bit of terrain specific adjustment of survival kits and clothing seems reasonable. I assume we'll get what we need, if there is something special we should 'pay for', let us know. So far, I have not tracked Zelpuz' wealth/money at all. I assumed he had sufficient funds to buy food and drinks etc, but had no lump sum of money he has in a bank where I added/subtracted anything. Should we keep more track of this or keep handling it fluently?
Also, I am not quite sure how the tradeoff between equipment, money and points is. E.g. if we say I have $1000, then it should be possible to trade $500 for walkie-talkies without adding points for equipment, right? And if we were to find a magic sword that we (can) keep that's worth $10,000, I think that should be possible without having to pay points for increased wealth, but that's my interpretation/opinion. Could you clarify?

And have fun skiing and in Japan.

So you have a wealth rating.  Objects also have a rating.  You basically make a roll modified by your wealth against a DC for purchasing the object, so higher wealth makes it easier to buy things.  These things are considered temporary for the most part, and get turned into equipment points if they are used all the time.

If the meetings that guy has with the Order house are regular, we could plant one of the bugs Yuu made and listen in on the conversation.

Yuu will want to hit up the local libraries as well, to cram as much information about Daedalum and its surrounding territories, with a focus on maps and terrain. He'll geek out a bit on local histories and traditions, prep himself for the fun ahead.

He's cool letting Vanyra plan equipment, as he's not so much as gone camping in his life. He would know academically what to bring, and could probably discuss the finer details of fire starter kits down to the nut, but to actually have used one?

Yeah, she's not advocating for any fancy 'kits'.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:17, Thu 07 Feb 2019.

So maybe some stuff to make fire, skin a rabbit, and of course oregano for seasoning.
Maybe some flash light etc, too, do we need to bring tenting equipment? Basically everything I would bring on a longer camping hike, incl. fishing equipment.

Other than that, are we going to plant a bug (or try)? Are they ready? Can they be traced back?

In game reality check... you have someone who can summon demons and another that has a magic stick that shoot fire balls, I think you don't have to worry about simple things like how to start a fire. Some simple gear like tents, some rope, proper backpacks, maybe some vaccinations/medicine, etc. is what I am thinking of that you guys may need to pickup.

Basic outdoor survival gear you can get without an issue since none of you are poor. If you're looking for anything that would convey a special ability or feat, like a ghillie suit, then let me know, as that would necessitate a wealth check or equipment points.

Some of you may already have a survival kit in your equipment that contains canteens, water purifier, thermal blanket, a small nether battery, two weeks of MREs and signal flares. That whole kit costs 1 equipment point.

I vote for a tent. Just in case it rains. I hate sleeping in rain, or even worse, the kind of weather we are having right now.

Vanyra's thoughts: where's the subtlety in fireballs?!

They make pretty colours!

And you don't need to cook your food anymore.

Sorry I've been MIA here, I had a work trip to Denver and then guests for the whole weekend and now I'm scrambling to get caught up at work ahead of more guests coming down in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, I hope to get mostly caught up this weekend so I get this next chapter kicked off.

You could plant the bugs if you wanted, but considering you'll the thousands of kilometers away they won't do you a whole lot of good while you're gone. You can do so in the period before you leave, but then you'd have to go extract them as well.

So if there's not any extraordinary equipment you're sourcing (ie. stuff you'd need to spend equipment points on or doesn't make immediate sense why'd you carry it on such an expedition), then we'll assume you get the basic provisions.

I imagine someone, like Yuu's friend Marcus, would also recommend a number of vaccinations before you go, just in case. There may be some temporary discomfort afterwards, but that'd all be gone before you got on the boats. The vaccinations will provide immunity to most of the common diseases known in the area, and give everyone a +2 vs. contracting others.

Also how are you getting there, regular ship or air ship? One is notably cheaper and slower, while the other is just the opposite. You've got time to take a regular ship, it would just cut into your time in Ossylia, and likely you wouldn't have had time to wait around for that bottle of wine Zelpuz ordered. There's in between options as well that could serve, like multi-stop airship route or a higher speed sea catamaran vessel; split the difference in speed and cost of the other two.

Let me know what you want to do there. Yuu's sister Qwe will be taking an airship so she can spend extra time in Ossylia since she just got back, and she doesn't have to be there until the start of the school semester in Daedalum.

As points of reference here's the relative cost (Wealth Check) and time associated with each transportation method:

Direct Airship: 14 TV for wealth, and 1 day travel
Multi-stop Airship: 12 for wealth, and 2 day travel
Direct High Speed Ship: 10 for wealth, 1 week travel
Regular Coastal Ship: 8 for wealth, 2~3 week travel.

Is it reasonable to make a wealth check right now and have that be the equivalent of checking our pockets to see how much we have access to?

I'm sure we have some family contacts that operate airships, maybe Yuu could ask his parents to get us on one? Or if he knows himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:32, Wed 13 Mar 2019.

To Erik's question, that is essentially what you'd be doing with the wealth check. It really just determines if you have the money, based on the result you can then decide if you want the ticket or not.

As for Yuu he's got the Wealth perk and could use that; the perk simulates the money and connections his family has that they are willing to spend on him. So his check would determine if they could obtain passage on the air ship. To buy airship tickets for the 3 of them I'm going to say the TV is 16.

Hmm, I guess Zelpuz will wait in the city for them to come back. I only got a 6, I don't think he has any modifiers.