Agreed. We have talked to them all before, and Kate is most familiar with the mercs in the city. Who do you both think is worth the investment to get Mystery to her destination and back ?

Kate looks over the mercs and states, "We want some to guard her. So that means we need hired muscle not hired guns or hired brains. I'd say anyone in heavy armor or that Barbarian there; Norbert. So that means we'd be better off picking Frogger, the half-orc, Andrew the human merc, or Norbert the Dwarf. Overall, Gazzel is the strongest of any of the mercs here but I'm not sure if she's the best pic for our current job or if we can afford her. Gemini seems more like a skill specialist and support merc. She's good but probably a bad choice for our mission." When it comes to merc work, Kate is all business even though she hasn't gone on any official jobs ever since joining up with Tomoe.

Tomoe looks over the one Kate pointed out. Let us see if Frogger is up to the task. Tomoe will approach the half orc. Good evening, are your services available at this time?

Frogger says, "Available if you can afford my fee. It's 6,000 GP"

(10k for Kitty Kat, 6k for Frogger for 16k total. It says I currently have 22k so that leaves me with 6k for the base. So 5500 for that and we're left with 500. So definitely going to see Seraph about work)

We can. But if you do not mind, could you tell me what kind of merc my money gets me? Can you expand upon your reputation and success rate?

((Roll Persuasion.))

Frogger says, "Of course. See most mercs focus on brawn or brain. There's nothing wrong with that but some of the best of the best have both going for them. Er... Ms. Genocide being an exception that is. Big Sister, who maybe the only one in the kingdom to rival Ms. Genocide, employs advanced combat maneuvers. Revenant Shade commands both magic and might and got the smarts to lay low too. All of them have one thing in common: they use brain and brawn. I'm not claiming to be on their level but I fight smart, just like them. When I'm not training my muscles and swordplay, I study the combat Maneuvers that Big Sister practices. That should tell you that you're money is going to a good hire."

((He is a Level 8 Battle Master Fighter))

Tomoes persuasion 14

Tomoe likes this answer. Wonderful. The job is pretty straight forward. Do you see this lovely lavender girl here? Tomoe points to Mystery. She is my most prized and precious servant. She is to be traveling to the City of Brass on a business task for me. One I cannot do in person myself. And, as she is a delicate flower, I need her to be safe at all times until the business is concluded and she has returned safe to me. Is this something you can handle? 

((DC for discount for level 5-8 mercs was 14 so you passed))

"Tell you what" Frogger says, "If you're still unsure, I'm guessing it has to do with budget. I can go down to 4,000 GP if it's not a too tough of a job. You won't get a coin lower though."

(Copying what Tomoe said so it fits into the conversation properly)

Tomoe likes this answer. Wonderful. The job is pretty straight forward. Do you see this lovely lavender girl here? Tomoe points to Mystery. She is my most prized and precious servant. She is to be traveling to the City of Brass on a business task for me. One I cannot do in person myself. And, as she is a delicate flower, I need her to be safe at all times until the business is concluded and she has returned safe to me. Is this something you can handle? If so then we have a deal. 

Frogger glances at Mystery and says, "Seems simple enough. When do we leave for the City of Haze?"

As early as possible. Tomorrow morning of you are able.

Frogger says, "Tomorrow morning then. Alright. sounds simple enough."

((Gold deducted))

With a guard for Mystery Secured, now the group is free to enjoy the night to themselves. Seraph is still going to take a bit to arrive. What does Tomoe and Co. do?

it looks like we were able to secure a bit more cash to spend on our new base. Anything you all would want to make sure we have in our new soon to be permanent residence? 

Kate being more business-like when it comes to these things, says, "We should have some defenses. Maybe some secure walls and balistas if possible. We need to be able to defend the base from raids and demons." Lucia says, "Hmm... Nothing comes to mind Chief. Maybe a library so I can do any research I need for our missions at the base instead of having to walk back to the city?" Kate suddenly remembers at Lucia's words, "Walk! We have a cart now. We definitely need a stable for that then."

A stable for sure. Defensive barriers and anti siege armaments. And A library. And private rooms and a fully functional kitchen and larder. I would like to have some decent furnishings too. Tomoe thinks it might be time to share her plans to make a mercenarys guild/organization 

What would you both think if we made plans to the base to be able to expand. Perhaps to house others who would do mercenary jobs with and or for us?

Kate leans back in her chair and says, "So you wanna start your own mercenary guild. I like the idea. It's going to have its challenges and it'll probably be a very long time until we can actually become a functioning guild but I like the idea." Lucia doesn't seem to excited about the idea. She says, "I'm not quite sure about that. I mean it would be nice to have more people helping out; strength in numbers and all that. But I'm not sure if turning it into a Guild would be great at this point. Especially when we've got enemies. Maybe keep it as just a house for now and move on to it being a guild later?"

(DM: So basically the Guild is going to work more like an NPC storage and home base more than anything. With how much time and energy it will take to run a Guild both in and out of character, I don't see the thing being a fully functioning Guild during gameplay. Of course you can still send people off to do smaller missions. Nothing big like actual side-quests though. For now I'm thinking it's going to be more like Xavier's School for Mutants rather than "The Guild")

(Thats what I was thinking. Keeping it small, like a place for beginners or small time mercs. A safe place to stay that's not associated directly with the city. And where my companions I'm not using can stay.)

A fully functional guild is a long ways off. But it is something I would like to plan for. We do need fewer enemies, but more allies can help alleviate that. Juat something to plan for if or when we can.

But i am going to make sure we have the beat beds...and sound proofing for the private chambers. Tomoe smiles deviously at her last statement. 

Lucia returns the smile and says, "In the forest, no one cares if you scream. Though I guess we'd be waking Kate up a lot."

Kate adds, "We should still keep the base within walking distance of the city I think. Otherwise getting to the shops and facilities would be much harder. Nothing like a stiff drink to wind down after a rough day of cultist killing."

Lucia asks, "So when do we start working on building? With how tight the budget is, we're going to have to do the building ourselves. It's gonna take around half a month to build."

We have met the budget for the basics. We have a little extra for someone the things we want. We should probobly find a building planner so we can start properly and be able to have future expansions prepared for. But that will probably run us dry on coin. So we may have to do a few jobs for our beloved capt seraph before and maybe during the construction. 

Kate says, "I don't think we need a building planner as long as we leaves some dead-end halls in so we can expand them. It's not like there's buildings to worry about when building in a forest. We can manage without it."

Seraph finally arrives by now. In his hand is a big roll of cloth, enough to make a complete outfit for one person. Tied around it is a ribbon, tied like the ribbon on a present. He approaches Tomoe's table and says, "Sorry I'm late. Had to wrap up a few jobs." He then turns to Kate and holds up the cloth. "This is for you. Seeing as how you fight unarmoed I think you'd be able to make use of this." It is the same spider silk that his own Gi was made out of. Kate looks at the gift and says, "Seraph... this is Armor Silk. This is extremely expensive. I can't accept this!" He says, "Don't worry about it. You don't wear armor while fighting. This should get you an extra layer protection. You were going to get a new outfit anyway right? Use this to make it."

Armor Silk: Armor Silk is a very expensive material, costing 1,000 GP for enough to make a single outfit out of. While wearing an outfit made up of Armor Silk, you have a +1 AC, provided you are not wearing any other armor. You can still gain the benefits of effects that require you to be unarmored while wearing a outfit made of Armor Silk. So this stacks with Mage Armor, Natural Armor and Unarmored Defense.