Blue Mountain - Turn 7.0

Spelljammer	Archeron
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Current Turn?	No	Subject:	Ransom Discussions
Campaign:	Spelljammer	Turn Start Date:	5/17/606
Adventure:	Archeron	Turn End Date:	5/18/606
Adventure Number:	7	Characters:	Barnas, KC , Martin Vane, Morty Crystaltouched, Pellanistra Xarann, Shaarilla, Syllivarrna Obanghall, Tyra Stellastrom
Turn Number:	7.0	Send To:	bluemountain@championsoftheempire.com; kc.starsprite@gmail.com; mghaught@gmail.com
Greyhawk Campaign?	No	Combat Turn?	No

Name	Lethal	NL	Current	END	PROT	LOW	DEF	ROF	Flash	Heal	Luck Pts	Fate Pts
Barnas	23	0	38/61	/0	8	2	34	0	/0	1/day	2/2	1/1
KC	15	0	38/53	/0	6	3	52	4	/0	1/day	1/2	1/1
Martin Vane	30	0	30/60	/0	10	3	55	12	/0	1/day	3/3	1/1
Morty Crystaltouched	2	0	49/51	/0	5	0	49	0	1/1	1/day	2/2	0/1
Pellanistra Xarann	19	0	41/60	8/8	9	0	79	16	/0	1/day	1/1	0/0
Shaarilla	0	0	45/45	/0	4	0	24	0	1/1	1/day	2/2	1/1
Syllivarrna Obanghall	9	0	63/72	/0	6	2	51	12	/0	1/day	1/2	1/1
Tyra Stellastrom	7	0	74/81	0/10	10	3	69	14	/0	2/day	1/2	1/1

Mage/Psioncist Name	Psionic Pts	Spell Pts	Spell Pool	Miscellaneous Information
KC	/	2/11	9/9
Martin Vane	/	13/13	9/9
Morty Crystaltouched	/	8/15	9/9
Shaarilla	/	5/23	11/27
Syllivarrna Obanghall	/	10/15	12/12

Barnas	Cleric Pool (11/11)
KC
Martin Vane
Morty Crystaltouched
Pellanistra Xarann	25% DR vs Slash, Crush & Elemental
Shaarilla	Mage Armor (PROT 4 for 48 hours or 3 hits)
Syllivarrna Obanghall
Tyra Stellastrom
Didamia

Didamia and Syl do most of the talking with the ransom master. They let her know that they would like 42,000 silver as ransom for Phaere. The woman does not react in any way that would indicate whether this amount is too high or too low but simply nods in agreement. She asks when the group will be ready to make the transfer. She gathers any other information that she will need when she meets with the Despana clan. Once she has this, she asks for a way to contact the group and they finally settle on meeting the ransom master the following morning in her office.

The group departs the ransom master's office and stops to buy food and other basic supplies on their way back to the torture chamber and the rest of the group. They return about 2 hours after they departed and impart their news to the rest of the group. Barnas, who has hobby level cooking skill, puts together a passable meal for everyone while others distribute some blankets around and everyone settles in to wait.

The group continues to keep careful watch on the driders who are manacled to the walls while also guarding Phaere and treating her with some degree of courtesy with regard to food and blanket.

The night passes uneventfully and, the following morning the same group goes to meet the ransom master. The ransom master has already told them that she will need to meet with Phaere today and, sure enough, about 45 minutes after departing, the group returns with the ransom master. Accompanying her are 5 drow guards and 2 large demons. The group brings Phaere forward and allows the ransom master to talk to her in their presence. The main purpose of the interview seems to be to assure the ransom master that the group really has Phaere and that Phaere has agreed to be ransomed. Once all relevant questions have been answered, the group escorts the ransom master out and agrees to meet with her in two hours.

Didamia, Morty, Syl, Lani, Balzeda and Akrin meet with the ransom master in her office a couple of hours later. She tells the group that she has already held ransom discussions with House Despana. She tells the group that the final offer for ransom is 30,000 after the ransom master's percentage. They also agreed to give up the Amber Key of Spelljammer. If the group agrees with this, then the exchange can take place the same evening. If the group does not agree, then they are welcome to kill Phaere or otherwise do what they want with her.

TYRA: Tyra is happy to agree to these terms. Tyra congratulates the team on doing a great job with the ransom discussions. She is pleased to see this resolution and is eager to move on. She will remain cautious but trusting in the process.

KC: He is happy with the results and will also be cautious from here on out as well till we leave on over newly acquired spell jammer.

KC: I think that the Knights of Lore should get the drow weapons and armor to do as the see fit with them before we depart with them and the other humans we rescued.

KC: (OOC) with them going with us most likely. I see them selling them for some seed money on there new endeavor post Archeron. And I can see us giving them at least 3000 silver on top of that. Depending on how much we have left after ship repairs and ship supplies are done.

SHAARILLA: Shaarilla also thinks the negotiations went very well and is happy with the results. Hopefully the transfer will also go well.

GM: I will send the next turn with the assumption that everyone is fine with the ransom discussions. I plan to send the turn on Monday or Tuesday.

GM: Quick question and only because you are dealing with an experienced ransom master who would have brought it up. Did you want to include a no-harassment clause in the ransom demands? That means that the Despana family will make no attempt to rescue Phaere and will not otherwise attempt to exact revenge on the group for a predefined duration after the exchange. If you want to go this route, it will reduce the payment by 3,000 silver for a 24 hour no-harassment clause, 4,000 silver for a 48 hour clause or 5,000 silver for a 72 hour clause. Each clause also include no attempt to rescue Phaere. If you go this route, the hand over will be pretty much risk free.

TYRA: Tyra would want to get Didamia's opinion but she'd be fine with one of the clauses. A few questions, how soon will the exchange be made? Could we be ready to move out immediately after that? It seems prudent to have transportation arranged to depart Erelhei Cinlu so that doesn't drag out. If we feel we can do the handoff in 24 hours and essentially be departing the city then I'd just do the 24 hours. 48 hours seems a bit more on the safe side but hence the questions.

SYL: Is the Hammership Phlogistron-worthy as-is or do we need to do some work to make her safe to "sail?" I remember a number of us needing to learn a bunch of skills to make her truly a worthy ship again...

GM: The helm works and will get the ship out into the Phlogiston and on its way but steering will be iffy. Some of the damage needs to be repaired before you can make jumps.

SYL: Do any of the captives have any skills that might be useful in such a case??

TYRA: Tyra would like to know from our friends in the Knights of Lore and the free captives, who among them can assist us with the spelljammer, repairing or as crew?

GM: Two people can send me a Luck rolls to see if anyone of the freed captives or Knights of Lore have relevant skills.

GM: The exchange will be made in 3 hours. The no-rescue clause would already be in effect while the no-harassment clause would begin when the exchange is made. 24 hours will easily be enough if you feel confident that the Despana clan won't attempt vengeance outside of Erelhei-Cinlu. If you want to get out of the city, buy the Hammership and get off of Archeron, then a longer time frame would be more appropriate. In any case, the no-harassment time frame is the minimum (I forgot to mention that before). If you choose one, the ransom master will try to barter it to longer. Best case is that the 3000 silver clause would last up to 48 hours, the 4000 clause could go up to 72 hours or longer and the 72 hour clause could go all the way up to 5 or 6 days.

TYRA: I hadn't considered if they were to follow us out of the city. I'm good for going for the 4000 offer and see if we can get it up to 5 days essentially. Likely, we'll have the hammership and will be working on it. We need 20k to do that part so if we pay 4k now to avoid trouble, that leaves us with 6k for the Knights of Lore and extra provisions as I'm sure that will cost a fair sum. It will make things a bit tight but the Knights were willing to settle for 2k so if we run into extra expenses we should be good to work with them on what we can spare.

MARTIN: Sounds like a plan. I would also prefer a longer period of “non-harassment”. Once we have the key, our main focus will be getting the Hammership air-worthy and departing. Having to watch for and fend off attacks would definitely be a pain.

KC: Or I think we would of just asked for 45000 silver to help pay for the 5000 silver no harassment clause.

GM: The 30,000 that was settled on was the final amount of the ransom discussion excluding the no-harassment clause. The no-harassment clause will need to come out of the 30,000.

GM: The cost of the damaged Hammership was 25,000. However, you also think you might be able to sell the Star Sprite for up to 10,000 silver so, as long as bargaining goes well, then you should be able to buy the damaged Hammership, pay for the minimum repairs needed to get it spaceworthy, buy the raw materials you will need to continue repairs as you go and then be on your way.

SHAARILLA: Shaarilla agrees that it’s worth reducing the amount of money in order to have a few days to work towards getting out of the city. Considering that it will take time to get our new ship ready to travel, it might be worth negotiating for the maximum time giving up 5000 for that.

GM: It looks like there is generally agreement that we should pay for some level of no-harassment so let me know what level you want to go with: 3000, 4000 or 5000.

KC: 5000 silver. More days the better. As we only really have one person sufficiently skilled enough to make the repairs, it is going to take more time.

KC - 5000
Martin -
Lani - 3000
Morty - 3000
Shaarilla - 5000
Syl -
Tyra - 4000

TYRA: It sounds like we might have 2 levels of repairs to make. The first is to fix the steering and the second is to make it jump worthy. Do we have a rough sense of how long our group, without help from others, would be able to make these two different repairs?

GM: I would say 3 levels of repairs. First level is the minimum needed to get it functional for both normal travel and jumps. Second level is all other structural repair and the third and final is non-structural repairs.

GM: Without help from anyone else, that means that you are relying on the following people:

Blacksmith - Morty and Syl both at Hobby level
Engineering - Morty at Skilled level
Mechanician - Morty at Skilled level
Shipwright - Morty at Hobby level
Woodcraft - Morty and KC both at Hobby level

GM: Each repair roll takes 2d3 days, uses 5d10 x 10 sp worth of materials and repairs 2d10 points with full success. Since you have sole reliance on Morty for Mechanician and Shipwright (both must be mostly repaired for level 1 repairs) that would mean 9 days assuming full success on each of 3 rolls, and decent 2d10 rolls. Then Syl could take care of the Blacksmith duties. She would need 3 days assuming full success and decent rolls. Given that Morty and Syl are Hobby level for Blacksmith and Shipwright, it would probably take more than 9 days. The other option is to pay the shipyard to handle the level 1 repairs.

TYRA: Hmm, that doesn't sound very promising for getting out of here quickly on our own. Obviously, we have two skilled workers from the freed captive group but we don't know what they're capable of handling yet. The idea for having the shipyard do the level 1 repairs sounds prudent. Do we have any idea what that'll cost us and how long they would take?

GM: The group would have to negotiate with the shipyard on price. The repair rules assume 1 person with the appropriate skill and 2 able-bodied assistants. Assuming the shipyard is well staffed, it seems likely then can get the repairs done within a couple of days.

TYRA: How much time do we think it would take to do the following if we were in a rush? Depart Erelhei Cinlu once we make the exchange, arrive at Dark Spelljammers, acquire materials for the repair, provision supplies and food for all our crew and passengers, and get into the Phlogiston.

GM: If you just want to purchase the Void Wanderer (Hammership) and limp her out of Archeron to hide somewhere nearby to effect repairs, you could get from Erelhei-Cinlu to Dark Starjammers in 5-6 hours, purchase the Void Wanderer, sell the Star Sprite, arrange the purchase of raw materials and supplies in a few hours assuming that a supply is readily available and depart in another 24 hours or so. Call it a day and a half.

TYRA: Do we suspect there's a good place for us to finish the repairs once we depart Archeron or are we better off making the repairs while on land?

GM: The repairs can be done in the Phlogiston. You do not need to be on land.

TYRA: I don't recall if we covered this but with the Hammership, do we have the same issues of crossing the void as we did when we came to Archeron?

GM: Assuming you get the level 1 repairs complete on the Void Wanderer, you should be able to jump to the Kingdom of Celestian relatively easily.

SYL: Luck Roll [rolled 87 vs. LUCK 20, 5x roll]

SYL: Nothing to see hear, move along...

SYL (GM): Going to assume that means all the Knights and rescued humans have two left thumbs??

GM: None of the Knights of Lore have any useful skills for Spelljamming or repairing spelljammers.

TYRA (OOC): Can Syl still use a luck point on that roll, assuming she was interested?

GM: Sure, she can use a Luck point if she chooses.

SYL will comply: Luck Roll [rolled 89 vs. LUCK 20, 5x roll]

SYL (GM): She was planning on using the XP from this month and a little from last month to improve her Blacksmith skill but I thought she had to wait for someone to be able to train her? Or can Morty now suffice?

KC: luck roll of [rolled 6 vs. LUCK 19, MADE BY HALF!] in case we need one.

GM: The group is in luck. Among the freed captives are two former spelljammer crewmembers. Neither have pilot or astrogator skills but they do have other skills which could include repair or gunnery skills. Two people can send me Luck rolls and I will use them to determine what skills they have. I assume that you would most want them to have some combination of Blacksmith, Shipwright and Woodcraft.

TYRA: Nice!! [rolled 93 vs. LUCK 19, 5x roll]

TYRA (OOC): Boo. Steve, can you let us know how bad a 5x result is in this case? I'd be up for using a luck point since that's a pretty bad roll. I know we have another luck roll involved so maybe some like KC will crush it. :)

TYRA: I'd like to use a luck point to reroll that one. It may not help much but being lucky and having some folks able to help us do repairs seems like a huge win for us and worth a luck point. [rolled 75 vs. LUCK 19, 4x roll]

GM: a 4x or 5x Luck roll means that they have Hobby level in the given skill. 5x would be rank 2 or 3 while 4x would be rank 4 or 5.

KC: luck roll of [rolled 47 vs. LUCK 19, 3x roll]

MORTY (GM): I have been slowly spending XP on prepping for this project, and just spent even more and am now Skilled in Blacksmith. I am also overall level 7 and apparently have been for a few weeks :) I am also hoping for a little continued luck from that Fate point I spent on it as well, I think you mentioned that when I spent it.

MORTY (OOC): It annoys me to have to pay protection money to these thugs so I vote for as little as possible, and just get out of this hellhole. Maybe Rendon and Chaldon can give us a little more work when we get back, but given we don't plan to hang around long, we'd have to get a little lucky :(

TECH: Luck roll for the other skilled refugee [rolled 80 vs. LUCK 20, 4x roll]

GM: Among the freed captives that the group rescued on Archeron is a man by the name of Talor Woodson. He is rank 6 with Woodcraft.

GM: Another freed crew member is a large young man by the name of Gepsud Metalson. He is rank 3 with Blacksmith.

KC: I assume that since weare all leaving that it would be prudent to sell all of the drow armor and weapondry we brought out of the dungeon of torture. Is that going into the pot or is that for the knights of lore to keep and use? I was thinking that it was part of there cut from the dungeon.

GM: I am assuming it was their cut from the dungeon since they are not likely to get much, if anything, from the ransom payment after all of the expenses of buying, fixing and outfitting the Void Wanderer.

SHAARILLA: So it is up to them to sell the drow armor and weaponry that soon is going to be of no use to them. That works for me :-) They should be able to do that do better than we could, and I’m glad that they are getting something from this as well.

GM: Correct. I glossed over it but when they met the group at the gate, they had already gotten rid of the drow armor - both what was found in the adventure and they stuff they already had - and had bought some new weapons and armor that was not as magical but would function off Archeron.

SHAARILLA (OOC): I’m planning on using this month’s experience for Shaarilla to pick up a repair skill. I was thinking most likely sihpwright considering how focused she is on ships. But whatever previous job of recharging power stones around the Starjammer have given her any experience with Mechanics or Engineering?

GM: It looks like Morty has Mechanician and Engineering covered so you could plan to cover Shipwright.

SHAARILLA (GM): How many levels of shipwright can Shaarilla buy to start with?

GM: She can buy 2 ranks, or 3 if she makes a 2x KNOW roll.

SHAARILLA: [rolled 6 vs. KNOW 22, MADE BY A QUARTER!!!]

GM: With that she can buy a total of 4 ranks.

While no one in the group is happy with having to pay money to avoid being harassed by House Despana, they recognize that it is a powerful house with lots of resources who could almost certainly bring enough force to bear to overwhelm the group. This is certainly true in Erelhei-Cinlu and anywhere else on Archeron. Beyond Archeron, they will hopefully be safe assuming House Despana is not set on vengeance. They decide to pay 4,000 silver to have a no-harassment clause for at least 48 hours. After negotiation between the ransom master and House Despana, the actual duration of the no-harassment is 84 hours (3.5 days).

Because of the no-harassment clause and House Despana's agreement not to try to rescue Phaere, the hand-over goes without a hitch. The group brings Phaere to the location determined by the ransom master, and heavily guarded by her forces. There they watch from one side of a large chamber as the ransom master advances to the middle of the room to meet with the ransom master of House Despana. Phaere is called forward. She removes the Amber Key of Spelljammer and hands it to the ransom master. The ransom master then collects a bag of coins from House Despana and her assistant carefully counts them, transferring some to a smaller bag. When assured that everything is in order, the ransom master and her assistant return to the group while the House Despana ransom master and Phaere return to the House Despana side of the chamber and then quickly exit. The ransom master hands the bag of coins and the Amber Key of Spelljammer to the group and then waits while the group counts the coins. Everything is in order.

The group departs the chamber. The Knights of Lore return to their headquarters to gather all of their personal items while the group leads the freed captives to the front gate. They spend a little time arranging for transport to the port, specifically Dark Spelljammers. The Knights of Lore meet them and then everyone climbs into the carriages for the trip to the port.

Five hours later, the group has reached the port and makes their way to Dark Spelljammers.

GM: I need three Barter rolls from Barnas. One is for the sale of the Star Sprite. The second is for the purchase of the Void Wanderer. The third is for the level 1 repairs needed to get the Void Wanderer space-worthy enough to depart Archeron and make the jump to the Kingdom of Celestian.