OOC VI

[Wyzard]

"There's some hills north of Lake Windrush, pretty barren and empty, mostly. My guess is they lair in there, somewhere, and have started ranging east for some reason. I haven't been up there in a while, but there's a trail leads from the Duke's Road to some Elven village, passes through those hills."

I say we try this angle. Severi will replace his stock of rations and buy a unit of spell-scribing supplies before we leave town, on the presumption that he might learn Magic Missile at some point. He'll bank the rest of his gold except maybe 20gp walking-around money. I'll get his finances updated before we get into a new adventure.

[Alethan]

We could easily afford to hire all of them and buy the rations. The real downside is that if they aren't mounted, they slow us down. More time in the wilderness = more wilderness encounter checks.

But I like rolling in deep. I say we hire all of them.

Just moving the discussion out of the IC thread so we don't have to use spoiler tags for everything...

I think we should have some kind of plan as to how we're going to use the hirelings before we hire them.

Re: travel time, would it be faster if we bought/hired a buck wagon and two draft horses? We might not be able to take all of the available hireling per space limitations, but it would travel faster.

If we dressed up like merchants, however... we could make a train of three such covered wagons/horses with some of the party acting as body guards and others (unarmoured ones) acting as drivers. We could hide the hirelings inside the wagons, ready to jump out when ambushed. Maybe even work something where we can easily remove a wagon cover and have the six archers and the two crossbowmen fire from the wagon.

[Wyzard]

That would certainly work. Let me get some costs out of the book.

Wagons

3 wagons = 600gp

6 draft horses to pull them = 240gp

At two horses apiece, each wagon will have a capacity of 15,000cn, or 1,500 pounds. That goes up to 25,000/2,500 if we have four horses per wagon.

Mercenaries

1)Nine infantry men clad in leather armor and armed with swords and shields x 6gp = 54gp
2)One swaggering man equipped with chain mail and bearing a sword and shield. x 12 = 12gp
3)Six fellows in leather armor and armed with shortbows and 6 x 9 = 54gp
4)Two in leather with crossbows. x 18 = 36gp.

Total wages of 156.

(total of 18 men, and we'd have a total cargo capacity of 4,500 pounds, we should be fine with all of them inside the wagons.)

We should also buy each man 1 week of regular rations and 1 week of iron rations, in case we're stuck out in the woods for a while. Total of 20gp per man x 18 men = 360gp.

Movement Rate

We'd be moving at the 30/90 rate, so slightly slower than an unencumbered man. I guess we'd still have the wagons afterward, though, so we could either recoup some of the costs by reselling them or alternately we could take up a mercantile enterprise, I suppose.

Total outlay: 1356gp. Each of the 6 PCs would be on the hook for 226. I'm sure someone can loan our new recruits the money.

[Alethan]

... or alternately we could take up a mercantile enterprise, I suppose.

lol

Total outlay: 1356gp. Each of the 6 PCs would be on the hook for 226. I'm sure someone can loan our new recruits the money.

Yeah, that wouldn't be a problem.

[MonsterMash]

Yes, I agree with that plan. Best to try and surprise the orcs and do as much damage as possible when we get the chance.

[thirdkingdom]

Looks like three in favor of the above proposal. Is there a fourth for a majority?

[Grognardsw]

Yes

[Wyzard]

I wasn't actually voting for it, just outlining what the numbers would look like...but since it's so popular, consider me to be in favor of it.

[thirdkingdom]

Cool. Someone can get the dudes listed in the "Henchdudes" thread. It would be handy to know who and what is riding in each wagon, as well as the order the wagons traveling in and what you guys are doing.


And, Wyzard: I think that would actually be pretty badass if you guys kept the wagons, loaded up with trade goods and headed out into the wilds. While I've loved killing aliens by the thousand, it's the trade aspect I'm most interested in exploring in the SWN game.

[Wyzard]

Might be worth a shot.

Okay, I have to go to lunch, but here's my thought on distribution: We put as many guys with ranged weapons as we can in the middle wagons, and put the melee guys in the front and rear wagons.

[Alethan]

Might be worth a shot.

Okay, I have to go to lunch, but here's my thought on distribution: We put as many guys with ranged weapons as we can in the middle wagons, and put the melee guys in the front and rear wagons.

Think we only have one middle wagon, but that sounds like a good plan.

[shaidar]

sounds like a good plan to me. do we need to buy some kind of supplies (or empty boxes? ) to make it realistic?

[thirdkingdom]

sounds like a good plan to me. do we need to buy some kind of supplies (or empty boxes? ) to make it realistic?

Nah. Let's assume you can cover the wagons with something. BTW, they'r the classic covered wagon of Oregon Trail fame. Let's say they've got wooden sides that come up three feet from the bed; your dudes won't necessarily be comfortable, especially for extended periods.

[Wyzard]

I think we're just going to cover the wagons.

So:

Front Wagon
One in leather with crossbow
One swaggering man equipped with chain mail and bearing a sword and shield.
Four infantry men clad in leather armor and armed with swords and shields

Middle Wagon
Six fellows in leather armor and armed with shortbows

Rear Wagon
One in leather with crossbow
Five infantry men clad in leather armor and armed with swords and shields

[Wyzard]

And, Wyzard: I think that would actually be pretty badass if you guys kept the wagons, loaded up with trade goods and headed out into the wilds. While I've loved killing aliens by the thousand, it's the trade aspect I'm most interested in exploring in the SWN game.

(I think that Severi will ride between the front and middle wagon, cloak pulled around him to hide his armor and hood pulled forward to hide his ears.)

As to trade goods:

Do you want to do something like ACKS and figure out trade modifiers? Because I'm completely down with figuring out what there's a local surplus of and trekking off as some kind of merchant expedition. I'd like to gain a few levels first.

[thirdkingdom]

I'd probably use either ACKS or the trade guidelines in the Darokin gazetteer.

[MonsterMash]

And, Wyzard: I think that would actually be pretty badass if you guys kept the wagons, loaded up with trade goods and headed out into the wilds. While I've loved killing aliens by the thousand, it's the trade aspect I'm most interested in exploring in the SWN game.

Elite the D&D edition.....

[thirdkingdom]

I think we're just going to cover the wagons.

So:

Front Wagon
One in leather with crossbow
One swaggering man equipped with chain mail and bearing a sword and shield.
Four infantry men clad in leather armor and armed with swords and shields

Middle Wagon
Six fellows in leather armor and armed with shortbows

Rear Wagon
One in leather with crossbow
Five infantry men clad in leather armor and armed with swords and shields

Do we have support for this marching order?

[chap126]

I think we're just going to cover the wagons.

So:

Front Wagon
One in leather with crossbow
One swaggering man equipped with chain mail and bearing a sword and shield.
Four infantry men clad in leather armor and armed with swords and shields

Middle Wagon
Six fellows in leather armor and armed with shortbows

Rear Wagon
One in leather with crossbow
Five infantry men clad in leather armor and armed with swords and shields

Do we have support for this marching order?

Sounds good to me. My question is where will the adventurers be? Anohir's weapon of choice is the sling.

[Alethan]

Either riding the horses we own or driving the wagons, with their horse tied to the back of the wagon, I suppose.

This order sounds good to me.