You're Tupolev, the Merchant. All your peers warned you to stay away from the Misty Mountains for strange things happen there.But you saw a profit opportunity during war time by going through the mountains to avoid the worst of the fight. However, by the time you left the mist, the land was unrecognizable.None of your old maps made any sense anymore.You sent some scouts out and they confirmed - you're in uncharted territory somehow.The question that remains is: what did you bring to these strange lands?
You have 10,000 gold to distribute on whatever you want that you brought on your trip.You need minimum 1 wagon, 1 horse or ox, 1 teamster, 1 laborer, 1 camp cook, 1 scout, 1 mercenary of any kind, 20 days of animal feed, enough rations to last your team 20 days, and one unit of whatever cargo. Max carrying capacity is 2,500 lb per draft animal, max of 10,000 lb per wagon.Consider that each person is 200 lb cargo. More than 5 people per wagon is uncomfortable.CARGOCrate of Grain (50 lb) - 2 gpSack of Salt (60 lb) - 5 gpAmphora of Olive Oil (20 lb) - 10 gpBarrel of Dried Fish (40 lb) - 3 gpIron Ingot (10 lb) - 10 gpWagon of Lumber (200 lb) - 10 gpBale of Wool (30 lb) - 4 gpBolt of Cotton Cloth (10 lb) - 8 gpBolt of Silk (5 lb) - 25 gpChest of Spices (5 lb) - 50 gpCask of Fine Wine (40 lb) - 20 gpBottle of Elven Wine (3 lb) - 100 gpKeg of Dwarven Ale (50 lb) - 15 gpBundle of Incense (2 lb) - 30 gpVial of Perfume (1 lb) - 75 gpStrongbox of Jewelry (10 lb) - 500 gpBundle of Exotic Furs (15 lb) - 60 gpPouch of Spell Components (2 lb) - 50 gpCase of Alchemical Reagents (15 lb) - 25 gpCase of Healing Potions (5 lb) - 50 gpLivestock Sheep (60 lb) - 5 gpRiding Horse - 75 gpCaged Exotic Bird - 200 gpCrate of Soap (10 lb) - 2 gpBale of Parchment (20 lb) - 10 gpCrate of Dwarven Tools (30 lb) - 15 gpPEOPLEDay Laborer - 8 gpTeamster / Driver - 30 gpCamp Cook - 15 gpMilitia Guard - 75 gpArcher - 105 gpProfessional Sellsword - 150 gpSpecialist Scout - 225 gpElite Mercenary - 375 gpSpellcaster - 750 gpTRANSPORTWagon 35 goldHorse (draft) 50 goldOx 15 gold FOODAnimal feed (20 days) 1 goldTravel Rations (2 days) 1 gold
I'm gonna leave the vote open until tomorrow.I will try to update daily.
>>6340374Wagon x 2, Horse (draft) x 2, Teamster, Driver, Camp Cook, Specialist Scout, Spellcaster, Elite Mercenary, Animal feed x 3, Travel Rations x 12, $1610Cask of fine wine x 2, Strongbox of Jewelry x 3, Crate of Dwarven Tools x 3, Crate of Grain x 2, Iron Ingot x 5, Pouch of Spell Components x 10, Case of Healing Potions x 4, Bolt of Cotton Cloth x 8, Bolt of Silk x 4.$4113 total. Hopefully i haven't gone over the weight limit.
>>6340468+1 to this
>>6340374>>6340468Sure, why not? +1!
>>6340468Alright, just a couple questions:Since you don't have day laborers, are you going to load/unload all the stuff from the wagons yourself?The travel rations you listed are wholly insufficient, did you plan to eat the grain from the crates you're hauling?Other than than your loadout seems fine, though I haven't calculated the costs yet.
>>6340672Can add in a day laborer or two.>The travel rations you listed are wholly insufficientCan you add in enough to get a "good" amount."
>>6340682alright.So I think this is the final loadout:Wagon x 2: 100 gpHorse (draft) x 2: 100 gpDay Laborer x 2: 16 gpTeamster: 30 gpDriver: 30 gpCamp Cook: 15 gpSpecialist Scout: 225 gpSpellcaster: 750 gpElite Mercenary: 375 gpSuppliesTravel Rations (9 people * 30 days): 135 gpAnimal Feed (60 days / 2 horses): 2 gp(10 days worth of supplies were already consumed, leaving you with 20 more)Cargo:Cask of Fine Wine x 2: 40 gpStrongbox of Jewelry x 3: 1,500 gpCrate of Dwarven Tools x 3: 45 gpCrate of Grain x 2: 4 gpIron Ingot x 5: 50 gpPouch of Spell Components x 10: 500 gpCase of Healing Potions x 4: 200 gpBolt of Cotton Cloth x 8: 64 gpBolt of Silk x 4: 100 gpTotals:Total Cost: 4,282 gpTotal Weight: 4,193 lbs / 5,000 lbsMoney Remaining: 5,718 gp (in pouches of ~300 gold each, inside a chest; roughly 165 lb of gold)I'll start writing soon.
>>6340767Well? Where the update at?
>>6343359The mists vanished instantly, leaving a world twisted and alien. The sky was a deep, bruised blue, and the sun felt like a shard of glass. My maps were useless, place names now just scribbles.My scouts returned terrified. “Streams flow uphill,” Anya whispered, “and the rocks… they breathe.”Thankfully, my team—Boris, Jürgen, Viktor, Pavel, even Gustav—grounded me. But Greta's eyes were wide. The Weave sings a painful, unknown song.We camped by an untrustworthy creek, water sweet but suspect. We needed to move, the unkown pressed in.On the third morning, I checked the wagons when a rustle in the undergrowth made me freeze. A face peeped out—round, ruddy, with bright eyes turning to terror. A halfling, from childhood tales! I'd thought they were myths.Then three more appeared, clutching baskets of glowing mushrooms. They stared; we stared. A dizzying silence broke when the female shrieked, scattering fungi like stars as they fled.Silence returned, heavy.I stood there, feeling like a storybook ogre. Gustav grunted, Little rabbits.But they were people. Small, terrified people. If harmless legends lived, what else did?Greta picked up a mushroom, its glow pulsing in her hand. They see us as monsters. We're the strange things here.Lost in a land of lies and nightmares, I, Tupolev Petrov, felt the gold I carried was worthless. We needed someone who wouldn't run, before something found us that wouldn't.> Gather the glowing mushrooms they dropped.> Have Greta attempt to track their path discreetly.> Pack up and move camp immediately, away from here.> Leave a trade offering (cloth, a small tool) where they fled.> Write in
>>6343407>Leave a trade offering (cloth, a small tool) where they fled.Some cloth and a couple of gold pieces.
>>6343407>>Leave a trade offering (cloth, a small tool) where they fled.I'd also suggest collecting the mushrooms they dropped, and leaving them for them (to signify that we're not thieves). I'm assuming this can be done as the intent of the first option would be to gather and keep, but I'm suggesting gather and gift.
>>6343407>> Have Greta attempt to track their path discreetly.
>>6343407>Leave a trade offering (cloth, a small tool) where they fled.
>>6343407>Have Greta attempt to track their path discreetly.
>>6343559>>6343541>>6343504>>6343501>>6343487I glanced at the glowing stuff scattered on the forest floor, then at my crew's worried faces. The merchant's words echoed in my head: Fear makes more fear. Stealing leads to revenge. But a gift... a gift could start a conversation, an invite.We won't take what isn't ours, I said, my voice steady. And we won't hunt them or run away. I turned to the wagons. Jürgen, get a roll of that cotton cloth—the plain, strong one. Viktor, bring one of the smaller dwarf tools, maybe a hand adze. Something useful, but not a weapon.Gustav frowned. Are you paying them?I'm not paying them, I replied, kneeling to carefully put the glowing mushrooms back in their baskets. I'm starting talks. They lost what they gathered because they were scared of us. We're giving them something to make up for it. It's a way of saying hello.I worked slowly, carefully putting each glowing mushroom back, showing respect for the work that went into gathering them. Anya watched the edge of the forest, bow ready, while Greta watched me with a small, unreadable smile.Once the baskets were packed again, I took the roll of sky-blue cloth from Jürgen and put it next to them. I put the dwarf hand adze on top of the cloth, its iron head shiny, its wooden handle smooth from being used. A fair swap—work for work, skill for skill.Okay, I said, standing and wiping my hands. Now we go. We'll camp farther up the creek, where they can't see us. We'll give them time to come back and find it.We packed up quickly and quietly, the wagons creaking as we moved them about half a mile up the winding creek to a low cliff that hid us. We set up watches, but the rest of the day was just the strange sounds of the forest.As the sky turned dark purple with streaks of orange, Anya, who was on watch, came back to camp. Her eyes were wide.They came back, she whispered. All four of them. They saw the gift. They took it—the cloth, the tool, even their baskets. They held the adze like it was special. They kept looking around, jumpy as birds, but they took everything.”I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. The first deal was done. No words said. No trust yet. But a way of talking had begun, even if it was weak. We weren't just monsters anymore. We were strangers leaving gifts.In this new world, it was our first good mark, not a bad one.> Maintain our distance and see if they return the gesture with a gift of their own.> Attempt to make more obvious, peaceful contact at dawn near the original meeting place.> Use the opportunity to scout more aggressively now that they've shown themselves to be peaceful gatherers.> Pack up and follow the creek downstream, putting more distance between us and the halflings.> Write in
>>6344754>Attempt to make more obvious, peaceful contact at dawn near the original meeting place.Let us establish diplomatic relations
>>6344754>Attempt to make more obvious, peaceful contact at dawn near the original meeting place.
>>6344754>> Use the opportunity to scout more aggressively now that they've shown themselves to be peaceful gatherers.
