I leave the stones as bidden and return to other tasks, first and foremost among them being whatever it is Thalica fancies doing this evening.
I look forward to the Inn's opening in the morning. It was a good sign of this place growing.
At some point, I'll visit the stables and try to find out exactly how bad the situation with the reserve horses is.
Determined not to be rendered blind out there again, that evening I sit down, gather the needed materials, and get started on Ping 2.0. Hopefully this one will have better luck, and between it and Ariel, we should have few blind spots.
Hearing of the grand opening, I look forward to trying out the chef's idea of breakfast in this alternate reality. While back at the stronghold, I head to the library and, if possible, start serious research on alchemical formulas to get familiar with possible supplements to my repertoire. Later on, I'll start work on Jonathan's new, fancy boots, copying the pattern of those I already completed. As time allows, I'll practice with Ariel, learning to control, command and 'program' this magical scout. Enjoying the sensation of wordless communication, I see what kind of education this construct can handle and how maneuverable he can be.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?" "Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied ― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Travis, catches up with Jason prior to the official grand opening of the Inn. "Jason, I know you have been busy of late. But when you mentioned that you can construct a homunculus, that could also come in handy for myself," He says.
"Could such a construct, store and dispense scrolls, potions like lesser vigor to party members, in a hurry, if so that would help," He adds.
"I wonder, if the homunculus, could also distill the active alchemy ingredients from plants also,"? He continues.
For the remainder of the day, he will start work on scribing another scroll, this time another lesser vigor scroll, bringing total to 5.
I feel refreshed from my time in my hidden oasis. Remembering the grand opening of the inn is coming up soon , I know it is time to return. " Well, it's time to go. Time to see what all the fuss is about at the inn. " I grin at my friend and we begin journeying to the stronghold. I'm really looking forward to this.
The next day the Inn has its grand opening by serving all the meals for the people in the area. As you enter you see three serving girls who are running back and forth from a door that leads into the kitchen area. behind the door you can hear pots and pans ratting and voices talking loudly as food is being prepared. The back tables have been set aside for the Lord and his party. You see Vickie walking about making sure all is in order as she sees to the seating. The Lord is seated with his wife to his left as the guard commander sits to his right. Standing behind the Lord is one of the armored men who are with him at all times. Also Lywenta is at the head table. As the party enters Vickie leads you all to a table to the side where you are close to the head table in a position of importance. You are all mostly seated when there is a hush that comes from all the people except the Lord as Rachel enters the inn. behind her is not Ghost but a very large Ape. The Lord welcomes Rachel into the room beckoning her forward to his table and ask her to introduce us all to her new companion. Everyone seems apprehensive as you can see the Lords guard with his weapon half drawn and as the guard commander is standing with her hand on her weapon.
Jason as far as extra mounts you are able to replace those lost but that leaves only five horses left that are unclaimed. Two of them are currently in training to become war type horses by a trainer. He hopes to have them war trained for you to the best of his ability next month. The fact that he does not have colts to raise as war horses is the main issue. If more horses can be found and bred then war horses could be a thing in the future.
I'm grinning happily as I see the new inn completed. My new friend walks along beside me in a relaxed manner. He doesn't seem too concerned with all the tumult.
As I enter the inn I notice my friends at a table. I grin and wave to them. Before I can join them Lord Douglas beckons me to his table. I walk over to his table with the dire ape studying everyone casually. " Ghost served us well but he waa ready to lead a pack. I have a new friend here. His name is Caesar. I'm sure many of you can catch that movie reference. He will be a great help to us here. " Caesar stands about 9' tall and looks to weigh about 1000 lbs. He has dark brown fur with a lighter stripe down his back.
To Travis, I'll say, "Well there is a packmate, its a walking chest intended to distribute items as needed in the field. But we have plenty of people on hand to carry and hand out items, so I'm not sure its worth investing the time and money."
"Another kind of Homunculus, the dedicated wright, is useable for crafting projects, potentially including alchemy. That's what Dobby is. I have him working on some armor and a few other items, but I can lend him to you from time to time if there's something in particular that needs doing."
...
I'm happy to see things going well at the inn, for Vickie's sake especially, since I know she's put much of her heart and soul into it.
I'm less sure about Rachel's announcement. Ghost was a major boon to us for so long. Hopefully Ceasar would prove as steady a companion.
Looking at the hanging spices, basket of eggs and other ingredients I am ecstatic to see so many fresh ingredients, however I silently curse myself for not learning how to bake when I had the chance, bread had become my nemesis, working with the others in the kitchen I smell the bread straight from the other and know it's not my work. No time to practice on opening night instead I see to my stew making sure it doesn't burn, taking a taste and grabbing a small sprig of dried herb that tasted to me like rosemary and rubbed it between my flat palms before letting pieces sink out of my grip and into the pot and thoroughly stirring it in.
Enjoying the slight taste of modern civilization that this inn provides, I enjoy the party atmosphere, drinking and eating heartily. As the night progress, I slack off on any drinking, moderation being the key as I listen carefully to nearby conversations for tidbits of interest. When I see the strangely calm ape follow Rachel, I study him discreetly, curious to how her abilities domesticate such creatures against their normally primitive natures. "I can see him being useful for melee, at least. Although he's a bit larger scale than Malcolm McDowell. Welcome, Caesar!"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?" "Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied ― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
Addressing the group in general, as they relax and enjoy the party, I put forward an idea "I know we are worried about our method of transport in this dangerous world, but unless we find some way of either protecting the poor creatures from harm, or replacing them with something more durable, we are going to regularly have an issue with some of us not having mounts. Even if we use healing on our horses as well as ourselves, it may not be enough. I know the spell Phantom Steed works here, and making an item for each of us that creates a long term mount is somewhat pricey, but it may be one way we can over come this issue, given time to manufacture them. At best, I can create something that exists for four hours per casting, and casts multiple times per day."
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?" "Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied ― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
I listen to Grant and the others speak about the transportation problem. Suddenly a thought hits me. " That's a good idea Grant. There is one problem though. Caesar can't keep up with the horses. I won't leave him behind. Guess I'll be on foot as well. We can be the rearguard I suppose? Caesar will more than make up for this in combat though. Won't you Caesar? " He grunts and thumps his chest.
I grin at Ceasar's enthusiasm. "Well, we can't have that can we? Perhaps we could at least make him some boots of striding, so he can maintain a speed faster than most of our foes? Won't be enough to keep up with the horses, but we're certainly not going to leave the two of you behind. I bet he could make some terrifying leaps with those on too."
"In any case, I've been working on the problem from another angle, I have come up with a couple of options."
"First off, the simple solution, just replace meat with metal. Clockwork steeds are relatively inexpensive. Just a little over a thousand gold per mount if we make them ourselves. They're perfectly obedient, don't attract dire wolves, and don't run from them either. There are also upgrades available that can turn them into a fairly potent weapon for those suited to fighting from horseback." I nod to Jonathan at that. "I think we can probably come up with some kind of chariot for Ceasar here if we go that way."
"Second, we take an approach somewhat more reminiscent of our own world. We build a big Armored Personnel Carrier, minus the propulsion system, possibly more than one. Coerce Lywenta into casting a permanencied Animate Object spell onto it. We lose out on the flexibility afforded by the horses, and we'll be rather easy to track, but on the other hand we'll have defensible fortifications wherever we choose to go. The other catch is I don't know how much it will end up costing us. That Permanency spell will cost Lywenta several thousand xp. If she is willing at all, I would not blame her one bit for requesting a very hefty fee in exchange for that service. One other advantage of this path is its the only one we could possibly start working on right now, for the others I have some studying to do."
"Hmm, come to think of it, if the APC is big enough, we could probably carry a couple of steeds with us, offsetting some of those disadvantages..."
"In any case, I particularly like the idea of building an airship, but every design I know of relies on things we just don't appear to have access to here, soarwood, soarwhales, captured elementals, a source of helium, etc. I think we'll have to table that option for the foreseeable future."
"Finally, while considering such things, I have to mention effigies. Essentially they're mechanical copies of real creatures, or even just creatures that could exist, like a half dragon dire lion, allowing for a great deal of flexibility. The things are very expensive, but the abilities they could put into our grasp are considerable, instead of horses and APCs, we'd be considering riding on gryphons and dragons. But, like I said, very expensive, I think it will be a good while before we could really consider them."
"We could also have an item that increases our personal speed considerably. It'd take about 4 days per item, but it would be a constant boost, if we aren't worried about carrying capacity. " *OOC - Expeditious Retreat adds 30 feet to movement* "I wasn't thinking about it because of our having to transport stuff that we find, but that's an option, too. Personally, I like the idea of an APC, but that would make us a big damn target. "
"I think, of all the options you've mentioned, the clockwork horses seem the better bet for our budget. Lower costs, but less vulnerable. What kind of issues with repairs would we find, if they got damaged?"
"The problem I see with having any kind of air vehicle is the visibility and risk of plummeting to our deaths. Feather Fall spells aside, there would be a lot of gear falling to land, should an amorous dragon take an interest in us."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?" "Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied ― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
I grin, "A permanent Expeditious Retreat item? Good idea. That'd work for Ceasar even more nicely than the Boots of Striding. He'd be able to keep up with the horses using those. Won't be able to maintain a hard run for as long, but we can work around that. Do you have room to start working on that soon? If you don't mind, I think that ought to be your next project. We want him able to keep up no matter what else we're doing with the mounts."
"As to repairs for the clockworks, they don't heal like normal creatures, but they can also take a much greater beating. I would be able to repair them manually if need be, but that'd take expensive materials. The cheaper but still convenient option would be to make a couple of wands of Repair Light Damage. A few castings of those should be able to take care of most problems. If the mounts are taking enough damage that the wands aren't enough... Well we probably have bigger problems."
"It would likely be prudent to start making barding as well. For the current horses, and if we go that route, the clockworks can wear them as well. Nothing more than light armor, lest we slow them down, but enough to help turn an arrow. I can get Dobby working on it, but if he's the only one, it could take a long while. Hmm, how would you guys feel about getting something of an assembly line going for a while? It would be tedious, but I bet if we work together we could churn out enough chainmail for all our horses in relatively little time."
The clockwork horses would cost us 844 gold apiece, about 1,200 for the souped up version that anyone charging into melee with the things will want. I'll have to pick up the craft construct feat, so we won't be able to start on that until I level up.
Chain shirt barding made for a horse would be 400 gp at market value, or 200 made ourselves. or 550/275 if we go for masterwork level. I'm not sure how long it would take, assembly line or no, because Kn seems to use a nonstandard schedule for mundane crafting (which I am extremely grateful for, the standard process is literally long enough that the average blacksmith would be losing notably more money than they make assuming a not austere lifestyle for them and their family).
In any case, I suggest the assembly line because most of the work with chainmail is repetitive, we can easily set it up so a few are busy drawing wire, others cut it into short lengths, then the lengths are ringed in linked rows, and finally the rows are joined together to make a sheet. There'd still be work after that, but unskilled labor takes up the bulk of the time involved.
And no, before anyone asks, the horses are not proficient with the armor, but unless they're attacking with their hooves, it doesn't matter much. Armor proficiency is by the way one of the cheaper clockwork upgrades, so it is an option there.
" The clockwork horses sounds like our best option to me as well. The effigy sounds great down the road though. I'm glad to hear about that device for Caesar. Can't let the big guy fall behind. i know that there are a lot of projects going on as far as crafting. Is there any way to maybe make Caesar some armor? It would be a larger set of normal armor. Once again, this would be down the road after these other projects are complete. Count me in on the assembly line as well. Sharing the work is only fair on this. "
"I can handle the Expeditious Retreat item after I finish Jonathan's boots. If we stay a week, I can have both completed, I'm sure. Any preference for the kind of ornament for Caesar? A clasp or a broach is pretty standard. Maybe a belt?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?" "Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied ― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
I take a look at Ceasar and shrug, "If you think he'll wear it willingly, yeah, we can make some armor for him too. It should be easier than for the horses actually, at least he's roughly the right body type, just bigger."
Travis, listens to Grant, Jason discuss ways of making the transportation better for the party. " I also favor the idea if using clockwork horses, perhaps powered by steam or magic.That way, our transportation will be unappetizing to predators," he says.
"I dont mind helping out with an assembling line, for constructing the mechanical horses," Travis adds.
"After, time Im sure we can also aquire, some clockwork armor of sorts also," he adds.
"Glad to have your support Travis. I'm not sure about the clockwork armor though. The only designs for such I know of right now are especially heavy, they almost make full plate look light by comparison. I can look into something lighter, but can make no promises there."
The only official clockwork armor I'm aware of is Mechanus Gear, +10 AC, but no dex bonus allowed, it also weighs 75 pounds and slows your speed down to 15.
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I leave the stones as bidden and return to other tasks, first and foremost among them being whatever it is Thalica fancies doing this evening.
I look forward to the Inn's opening in the morning. It was a good sign of this place growing.
At some point, I'll visit the stables and try to find out exactly how bad the situation with the reserve horses is.
Determined not to be rendered blind out there again, that evening I sit down, gather the needed materials, and get started on Ping 2.0. Hopefully this one will have better luck, and between it and Ariel, we should have few blind spots.
Hearing of the grand opening, I look forward to trying out the chef's idea of breakfast in this alternate reality. While back at the stronghold, I head to the library and, if possible, start serious research on alchemical formulas to get familiar with possible supplements to my repertoire. Later on, I'll start work on Jonathan's new, fancy boots, copying the pattern of those I already completed. As time allows, I'll practice with Ariel, learning to control, command and 'program' this magical scout. Enjoying the sensation of wordless communication, I see what kind of education this construct can handle and how maneuverable he can be.
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
Travis, catches up with Jason prior to the official grand opening of the Inn. "Jason, I know you have been busy of late. But when you mentioned that you can construct a homunculus, that could also come in handy for myself," He says.
"Could such a construct, store and dispense scrolls, potions like lesser vigor to party members, in a hurry, if so that would help," He adds.
"I wonder, if the homunculus, could also distill the active alchemy ingredients from plants also,"? He continues.
For the remainder of the day, he will start work on scribing another scroll, this time another lesser vigor scroll, bringing total to 5.
Scribe scroll lessor vigor # 13
Cost = 37gp, 1exp. Duration = 24 hrs.
I feel refreshed from my time in my hidden oasis. Remembering the grand opening of the inn is coming up soon , I know it is time to return. " Well, it's time to go. Time to see what all the fuss is about at the inn. " I grin at my friend and we begin journeying to the stronghold. I'm really looking forward to this.
The next day the Inn has its grand opening by serving all the meals for the people in the area. As you enter you see three serving girls who are running back and forth from a door that leads into the kitchen area. behind the door you can hear pots and pans ratting and voices talking loudly as food is being prepared. The back tables have been set aside for the Lord and his party. You see Vickie walking about making sure all is in order as she sees to the seating. The Lord is seated with his wife to his left as the guard commander sits to his right. Standing behind the Lord is one of the armored men who are with him at all times. Also Lywenta is at the head table. As the party enters Vickie leads you all to a table to the side where you are close to the head table in a position of importance. You are all mostly seated when there is a hush that comes from all the people except the Lord as Rachel enters the inn. behind her is not Ghost but a very large Ape. The Lord welcomes Rachel into the room beckoning her forward to his table and ask her to introduce us all to her new companion. Everyone seems apprehensive as you can see the Lords guard with his weapon half drawn and as the guard commander is standing with her hand on her weapon.
Jason as far as extra mounts you are able to replace those lost but that leaves only five horses left that are unclaimed. Two of them are currently in training to become war type horses by a trainer. He hopes to have them war trained for you to the best of his ability next month. The fact that he does not have colts to raise as war horses is the main issue. If more horses can be found and bred then war horses could be a thing in the future.
I'm grinning happily as I see the new inn completed. My new friend walks along beside me in a relaxed manner. He doesn't seem too concerned with all the tumult.
As I enter the inn I notice my friends at a table. I grin and wave to them. Before I can join them Lord Douglas beckons me to his table. I walk over to his table with the dire ape studying everyone casually. " Ghost served us well but he waa ready to lead a pack. I have a new friend here. His name is Caesar. I'm sure many of you can catch that movie reference. He will be a great help to us here. " Caesar stands about 9' tall and looks to weigh about 1000 lbs. He has dark brown fur with a lighter stripe down his back.
To Travis, I'll say, "Well there is a packmate, its a walking chest intended to distribute items as needed in the field. But we have plenty of people on hand to carry and hand out items, so I'm not sure its worth investing the time and money."
"Another kind of Homunculus, the dedicated wright, is useable for crafting projects, potentially including alchemy. That's what Dobby is. I have him working on some armor and a few other items, but I can lend him to you from time to time if there's something in particular that needs doing."
...
I'm happy to see things going well at the inn, for Vickie's sake especially, since I know she's put much of her heart and soul into it.
I'm less sure about Rachel's announcement. Ghost was a major boon to us for so long. Hopefully Ceasar would prove as steady a companion.
Looking at the hanging spices, basket of eggs and other ingredients I am ecstatic to see so many fresh ingredients, however I silently curse myself for not learning how to bake when I had the chance, bread had become my nemesis, working with the others in the kitchen I smell the bread straight from the other and know it's not my work. No time to practice on opening night instead I see to my stew making sure it doesn't burn, taking a taste and grabbing a small sprig of dried herb that tasted to me like rosemary and rubbed it between my flat palms before letting pieces sink out of my grip and into the pot and thoroughly stirring it in.
Enjoying the slight taste of modern civilization that this inn provides, I enjoy the party atmosphere, drinking and eating heartily. As the night progress, I slack off on any drinking, moderation being the key as I listen carefully to nearby conversations for tidbits of interest. When I see the strangely calm ape follow Rachel, I study him discreetly, curious to how her abilities domesticate such creatures against their normally primitive natures. "I can see him being useful for melee, at least. Although he's a bit larger scale than Malcolm McDowell. Welcome, Caesar!"
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
I will be gone for the next few days and out of country so no internet. I will be back on the 21st See you all then.
Addressing the group in general, as they relax and enjoy the party, I put forward an idea "I know we are worried about our method of transport in this dangerous world, but unless we find some way of either protecting the poor creatures from harm, or replacing them with something more durable, we are going to regularly have an issue with some of us not having mounts. Even if we use healing on our horses as well as ourselves, it may not be enough. I know the spell Phantom Steed works here, and making an item for each of us that creates a long term mount is somewhat pricey, but it may be one way we can over come this issue, given time to manufacture them. At best, I can create something that exists for four hours per casting, and casts multiple times per day."
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
I listen to Grant and the others speak about the transportation problem. Suddenly a thought hits me. " That's a good idea Grant. There is one problem though. Caesar can't keep up with the horses. I won't leave him behind. Guess I'll be on foot as well. We can be the rearguard I suppose? Caesar will more than make up for this in combat though. Won't you Caesar? " He grunts and thumps his chest.
I grin at Ceasar's enthusiasm. "Well, we can't have that can we? Perhaps we could at least make him some boots of striding, so he can maintain a speed faster than most of our foes? Won't be enough to keep up with the horses, but we're certainly not going to leave the two of you behind. I bet he could make some terrifying leaps with those on too."
"In any case, I've been working on the problem from another angle, I have come up with a couple of options."
"First off, the simple solution, just replace meat with metal. Clockwork steeds are relatively inexpensive. Just a little over a thousand gold per mount if we make them ourselves. They're perfectly obedient, don't attract dire wolves, and don't run from them either. There are also upgrades available that can turn them into a fairly potent weapon for those suited to fighting from horseback." I nod to Jonathan at that. "I think we can probably come up with some kind of chariot for Ceasar here if we go that way."
"Second, we take an approach somewhat more reminiscent of our own world. We build a big Armored Personnel Carrier, minus the propulsion system, possibly more than one. Coerce Lywenta into casting a permanencied Animate Object spell onto it. We lose out on the flexibility afforded by the horses, and we'll be rather easy to track, but on the other hand we'll have defensible fortifications wherever we choose to go. The other catch is I don't know how much it will end up costing us. That Permanency spell will cost Lywenta several thousand xp. If she is willing at all, I would not blame her one bit for requesting a very hefty fee in exchange for that service. One other advantage of this path is its the only one we could possibly start working on right now, for the others I have some studying to do."
"Hmm, come to think of it, if the APC is big enough, we could probably carry a couple of steeds with us, offsetting some of those disadvantages..."
"In any case, I particularly like the idea of building an airship, but every design I know of relies on things we just don't appear to have access to here, soarwood, soarwhales, captured elementals, a source of helium, etc. I think we'll have to table that option for the foreseeable future."
"Finally, while considering such things, I have to mention effigies. Essentially they're mechanical copies of real creatures, or even just creatures that could exist, like a half dragon dire lion, allowing for a great deal of flexibility. The things are very expensive, but the abilities they could put into our grasp are considerable, instead of horses and APCs, we'd be considering riding on gryphons and dragons. But, like I said, very expensive, I think it will be a good while before we could really consider them."
"What do you all think?"
"We could also have an item that increases our personal speed considerably. It'd take about 4 days per item, but it would be a constant boost, if we aren't worried about carrying capacity. " *OOC - Expeditious Retreat adds 30 feet to movement* "I wasn't thinking about it because of our having to transport stuff that we find, but that's an option, too. Personally, I like the idea of an APC, but that would make us a big damn target. "
"I think, of all the options you've mentioned, the clockwork horses seem the better bet for our budget. Lower costs, but less vulnerable. What kind of issues with repairs would we find, if they got damaged?"
"The problem I see with having any kind of air vehicle is the visibility and risk of plummeting to our deaths. Feather Fall spells aside, there would be a lot of gear falling to land, should an amorous dragon take an interest in us."
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
I grin, "A permanent Expeditious Retreat item? Good idea. That'd work for Ceasar even more nicely than the Boots of Striding. He'd be able to keep up with the horses using those. Won't be able to maintain a hard run for as long, but we can work around that. Do you have room to start working on that soon? If you don't mind, I think that ought to be your next project. We want him able to keep up no matter what else we're doing with the mounts."
"As to repairs for the clockworks, they don't heal like normal creatures, but they can also take a much greater beating. I would be able to repair them manually if need be, but that'd take expensive materials. The cheaper but still convenient option would be to make a couple of wands of Repair Light Damage. A few castings of those should be able to take care of most problems. If the mounts are taking enough damage that the wands aren't enough... Well we probably have bigger problems."
"It would likely be prudent to start making barding as well. For the current horses, and if we go that route, the clockworks can wear them as well. Nothing more than light armor, lest we slow them down, but enough to help turn an arrow. I can get Dobby working on it, but if he's the only one, it could take a long while. Hmm, how would you guys feel about getting something of an assembly line going for a while? It would be tedious, but I bet if we work together we could churn out enough chainmail for all our horses in relatively little time."
The clockwork horses would cost us 844 gold apiece, about 1,200 for the souped up version that anyone charging into melee with the things will want. I'll have to pick up the craft construct feat, so we won't be able to start on that until I level up.
Chain shirt barding made for a horse would be 400 gp at market value, or 200 made ourselves. or 550/275 if we go for masterwork level. I'm not sure how long it would take, assembly line or no, because Kn seems to use a nonstandard schedule for mundane crafting (which I am extremely grateful for, the standard process is literally long enough that the average blacksmith would be losing notably more money than they make assuming a not austere lifestyle for them and their family).
In any case, I suggest the assembly line because most of the work with chainmail is repetitive, we can easily set it up so a few are busy drawing wire, others cut it into short lengths, then the lengths are ringed in linked rows, and finally the rows are joined together to make a sheet. There'd still be work after that, but unskilled labor takes up the bulk of the time involved.
And no, before anyone asks, the horses are not proficient with the armor, but unless they're attacking with their hooves, it doesn't matter much. Armor proficiency is by the way one of the cheaper clockwork upgrades, so it is an option there.
" The clockwork horses sounds like our best option to me as well. The effigy sounds great down the road though. I'm glad to hear about that device for Caesar. Can't let the big guy fall behind. i know that there are a lot of projects going on as far as crafting. Is there any way to maybe make Caesar some armor? It would be a larger set of normal armor. Once again, this would be down the road after these other projects are complete. Count me in on the assembly line as well. Sharing the work is only fair on this. "
"I can handle the Expeditious Retreat item after I finish Jonathan's boots. If we stay a week, I can have both completed, I'm sure. Any preference for the kind of ornament for Caesar? A clasp or a broach is pretty standard. Maybe a belt?"
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
I take a look at Ceasar and shrug, "If you think he'll wear it willingly, yeah, we can make some armor for him too. It should be easier than for the horses actually, at least he's roughly the right body type, just bigger."
Travis, listens to Grant, Jason discuss ways of making the transportation better for the party. " I also favor the idea if using clockwork horses, perhaps powered by steam or magic.That way, our transportation will be unappetizing to predators," he says.
"I dont mind helping out with an assembling line, for constructing the mechanical horses," Travis adds.
"After, time Im sure we can also aquire, some clockwork armor of sorts also," he adds.
"Glad to have your support Travis. I'm not sure about the clockwork armor though. The only designs for such I know of right now are especially heavy, they almost make full plate look light by comparison. I can look into something lighter, but can make no promises there."
The only official clockwork armor I'm aware of is Mechanus Gear, +10 AC, but no dex bonus allowed, it also weighs 75 pounds and slows your speed down to 15.