King Draggs

Thought we could get a post going for Dragg's kingdom! I was thinking about spending my downtime and my gold on making a dock and if I have enough cash building a boat for exploration and the transporting of slaves to free cities. I am unsure where this river runs or even the name of it. What do yall think?

You can probably find out more info about it via google. The river is on the Maze level of Undermountain along the river known as Graymurk. I actually don't know much about it. If you discover that it does not work well (too isolated), you might want to consider the Sargauth River located on the Sargauth level instead. That is the river that runs by Spiderhaven and through Skullport. Most of the group has visited those locations and has boated down Sargauth at one point or another.  There are a lot of docks in Skullport. Of course you would have to get official permission to use the magical locks if you ever wanted to get passage outside of Undermountain to the sea caves that are located at the bottom of the cliffs on the coast of Waterdeep.  Just some food for thought. I like where you are going with this though.

Slane would like to captain a ship on the river sargauth but would prob need draggs help to secure permission to move vessels. Is there a cost perhaps for building a small dock for our ships to gather or send off goods and people?

page 119 of the DMG has ship prices.  page 127 and page 128 have prices for buildings and upkeep costs

Thanks Jim! A barge (keelboat) is about the largest size ship that can fit on most of the River Sargauth. The PCs canoed this river in the past. They also encountered some nasty stuff along the way... an ettin, a spectator, and some drow. The drow left them alone as they were heading to Spiderhaven. Skull Island (Skullports port) can dock large ships in the surrounding area known as Skull Pool. These are ships that enter from the sea caverns that lead to the Sea of Swords at the coast of Waterdeep. You have to obtain a docking permit. The permit covers a number of days that the ship can be docked. The cost per day depends on the type of ship (1% of the cost of the ship per day). This is paid to the Registry (a business on Skull Island). This could give you all a reason to visit Skullport in the future and check out the slaving situation there.  So if you are building the dock to help bring supplies to Belkram's Fall, the best location would be near Spiderhaven and the best ship would be a keelboat. That is 4 hours down river from Skullport (8 hours to return up river). You could pay the docking fees at Skullport as needed. 

Alright so its 3k to build a kneel boat but what would the dock be under? trading post?

If we are to use this to free slaves from skullport we may need more than 1 ship does anyone else want to get a small fleet going? Also this is how we would sell all the precious jewels we mine inside belkrams fall unless theres an easier way to transport such heavy material.

I'm still researching, but right now I think the goal would be to use 2 or 3 boats to send ore to skullport and return with supplies. The slaves could hide out on the boats for the return trip. We don't want to advertise we are the Underground Railroad.  One boat and dock first then add more boats.

Alright from what ive been reading these things take about 60 days to build so we will need some serious downtime to get it up and running. Maybe Finite wants to take charge of building hidden rooms in the boats for the slaves. Also I think with a steady steam of money coming in for the mining we could afford to hire a grip of miners and guards to start the operation once the port is built. Maybe we can go visit the lord of skullport to try and get passage to drop on ore?

I think going to skullport is something we would want to do in game. We would need to find buyers for the ore and setup trade. While we are there we could recon the slavers. Getting the boat and docks would be down time.

Daniel S. said: Alright so its 3k to build a kneel boat but what would the dock be under? trading post? I think trading post maintenance is a bit high for a single dock. Let's use "farm" since it is a small structure and the farm covers 3 dock workers to load and unload the barge. Sound good?

Looks like the plan is coming together. I really like where you are all going with this. This is giving me some great ideas for what to have prepared in the future.

This is really awesome guys, great ideas! Fianait will jump on board (pun unintentional) with any ideas anyone comes up with. She's not so great at figuring out the finer details, she just gets unrealistic ideas about wiping out all the slavers in a fury of rage and death over a course of hours. lol. I'm trying to imagine her building hidden rooms. She'd probably just pile up some sacks and boxes and put a few wolves in front to guard. Obviously, not a good plan! lol. Fianait will pretty much use all of her gold to put towards the Underground Railroad, so buying ships or anything like that, I could put in a large sum.

The DMG doesnt specify the amount to build a farm it has its upkeep thou

Sounds good :) Maybe after we finish this sessions story arc we can take some downtime to build the dock and gain the necessary permissions to trade with skullport during the session after that

Daniel S. said: The DMG doesnt specify the amount to build a farm it has its upkeep thou Oh... good point. lol Let me see what is a good comp for the actual build time (I am a construction contractor, I should be able to do this... lol)... I would think that a dock the size needed for a keelboat should be about 20% the cost of a trade post. So about 1,000 gp and 15 days to build. That would be an L shaped dock so you can shore the boat in the 20 foot wide river and have ramps for loading and unloading. Sound reasonable? Going to be fun to add this to the Spiderhaven map. lol The upkeep will include one skilled dock worker with two unskilled workers. They will also keep an eye out to prevent vandalism.  The barge requires one skilled crewman to operate.  You will also need some grunts to get the shipments to the docks from the mining site. Basically, I will be using all of your laborers to establish the size of the business for handling business rolls in the DMG.  The PCs may remember that the barge they saw in Skullport also had about 8 guards on board to protect the shipments. I will leave this up to you, but remember that there is more risk on the Sargauth River than on the surface.

Lyn D. said: This is really awesome guys, great ideas! Fianait will jump on board (pun unintentional) with any ideas anyone comes up with. She's not so great at figuring out the finer details, she just gets unrealistic ideas about wiping out all the slavers in a fury of rage and death over a course of hours. lol. I'm trying to imagine her building hidden rooms. She'd probably just pile up some sacks and boxes and put a few wolves in front to guard. Obviously, not a good plan! lol. Fianait will pretty much use all of her gold to put towards the Underground Railroad, so buying ships or anything like that, I could put in a large sum. Good stuff. As you guys are planning this, remember that there is a chance you will be inspected. The DCs (for Search, etc...) will be based on the skill of whoever is in charge of that particular detail. For example, the hidden compartments. This might be stuff to use for another group later on... lol.

Oh... just so you know, I use the PCs passive skill in something to set the DCs. So hiding compartments would be something like Stealth +10. Feel free to be creative in using spells or other abilities when possible. :)

I think we would want to go to Skullport and locate a buyer and recon the slavers in game. The Dock and boat would be downtime items.&nbsp; Drags is going to want to put his money into build fortification and recruiting personnel at the Citadel first. The dock will not do us any good if the Citadel gets over taken the next time we go out. Mark is the purple labyrinth area on this map the same labyrinth we have talked about in our game? <a href="http://prints.mikeschley.com/p497268819/h565f3364#" rel="nofollow">http://prints.mikeschley.com/p497268819/h565f3364#</a>... PS this is a link to the art work of one of the main artist that does the maps for Wizards not some random search link. I have purchased maps from him before.

That map shows a much larger area of the Underdark. It is a really nice updated map. Ch'Chitl, which is on that map, is practically right under Waterdeep at about 18 miles deep. Undermountain does in fact connect to the Underdark in some places, but is mostly isolated from it, and is mostly located directly under Waterdeep. The Maze Level (not to be confused with the Labyrinth of the Underdark) is one of the nine main levels of Undermountain as shown on this sideview map... Undermountain Profile This is an old map of the Underdark and information about it that helps when figuring out where things are relative to the surface.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.realmshelps.net/faerun/underdark/geogra" rel="nofollow">http://www.realmshelps.net/faerun/underdark/geogra</a>...

Alright so Slane will start the building of the docks once we get some downtime and begin construction on the boats. Is there anyone who can help me build this or at least build the areas where the slaves will hide? I was thinking of a compartment underneath the boat that may keep it from going full speed but would provide a full proof place for the slaves to hide. Kinda like they did with Jews during WW2.

Dock- 1k gp (Crew- 1 Skilled 2 unskilled) Boats - 3k gp (Crew- 1 skilled) &nbsp;(total weight is 1/2 ton) I believe we need to discount the cost of the boats as well since purchase price is 3k but we would be building the boats ourselves. We can used the skilled workers to build the boats since sea worthy people should be proficient in carpenters tools. Finite do you want to do some research on how to stow these slaves and the weight ratio we need to hold in order to transport? Also I was thinking about getting a guard inspector on the payroll so we could easily smuggle people out of skullport and possibly put them to work mining if they wish to do so. Perhaps with some persuassion checks? That would be draggs and Finites call thou I wouldn't want to force these people but I also dont want to just drop them off in a foreign area with no resources. Also if we could maybe get an upkeep chart going on how much money and resources these slaves will take to upkeep

Daniel S. said: Alright so Slane will start the building of the docks once we get some downtime and begin construction on the boats. Is there anyone who can help me build this or at least build the areas where the slaves will hide? I was thinking of a compartment underneath the boat that may keep it from going full speed but would provide a full proof place for the slaves to hide. Kinda like they did with Jews during WW2. Fianait will help, as I said. However, I don't think she will be a good option to be in charge of building the hidden rooms. Mark said it would be based on Stealth (dex), and hers is 0, so the DC to find that room would be 10. Not good! I actually think Slane would be the best one to plan it out, I think he has the highest dex of the group. Fianait will help with the 'grunt work' and manual labor and such. She might also hang around as Dire Wolf, guarding the dock. Probably a very dissuading sight for would be vandals and thieves!

Mark S. said: Daniel S. said: Alright so its 3k to build a kneel boat but what would the dock be under? trading post? I think trading post maintenance is a bit high for a single dock. Let's use "farm" since it is a small structure and the farm covers 3 dock workers to load and unload the barge. Sound good? Considering you were allowing me to purchase and run buildings using the stronghold builders guide since 5e is lackluster on the matter I suggest we use the dock pricing here. Basic Dock, Cost: 500 gp, Prerequisites : Two laborers A dock allows ships to load or unload people or cargo from or to the stronghold. This component can support up to two rafts, keelboats, rowboats, or longships, but not warships or galleys. Purchase this component multiple times to allow additional ships to moor at the stronghold’s docks. It’s common for storage spaces, shops, and taverns to be placed near the docks for the convenience of travelers and sailors. This structure is only appropriate for strongholds that overlook a river, sea, or other body of water. or if you want bigger for later on you could build several basic docks or pay interest into getting this: Extended Dock, Cost: 3,000 gp, Prerequisites: Four laborers Similar to the basic dock, this larger and more complete structure can accommodate up to two of the largest of vessels, such as galleys and warships, or four smaller craft. Purchase this component multiple times to allow additional ships to moor at the stronghold’s docks. Maintenance for each is up to Mark. I would love to see these ships be important to aiding slaves. Also considering it says laborers that means they would be unskilled workers.

The dock: &nbsp;1,000 gp in material and 15 days to build. Market value = 2,000 gp Keelboat: 1,500 gp in material and 22 days to build. Add 350 gp for secret compartments for a total of 1,850 in material and 27 days to build. Both have a DC of 11 with carpenter's tools (8 gp). One person would take 42 days. Helpers to reduce time will also need carpenter's tools.

Ha... we posted at the same time. Thanks for posting that, but we are going to go with my last post. I crunched the numbers in the DMG. The dock is capable of docking 2 row boats or one keelboat. Longboats and others that size or greater cannot make it this far down river.&nbsp;

Hmm well we used the guide for mine, so I thought it would be better to remain consistent, but it is up to you Mark. I am anticipating the upcoming game.

The only reason I used the guide was because I didn't have the time to figure it out. If it exists in the DMG, we should be using that without question. Problem is that very little is detailed there. I would rather avoid rushes in the future though so we can keep things consistent using 5e. The alternative seems to be causing too many issues so I will have to restrain my leniency.

Was setting stuff up and am really looking forward to the next couple of sessions... mwah ha ha ha. lol Seriously though. Should be fun. :)

bump

Alright so lets settle on some downtime here. Here is the breakdown of what I was thinking. 1k- Dock 3700- 2 kneel boats 2 GP per day- Skilled workers to cut down the building time For regan I was thinking about making a small trading post that would be under his stores umbrella. This area will supply slaves with the basics needed to either leave and make there own way or stay and contribute to building draggs kingdom. I was thinking about using a persuasion check per 20 slaves freed and the number you roll = the number of people who stay with you. Other issue would be securing the ability for our boats to enter port and not only is paying the bribes that may come with that and the port fees but securing the proper intel to find where the slaves are and trying to free them. I would like to propose a per 10 days of downtime freeing slaves schedule. What do you guys think about this? Also I need a list of people who want to help us with the build costs to get this up and running. I have commitments from Finite, Regen, and myself Draggs did you want to help us with dock building?

Daniel S. said: Alright so lets settle on some downtime here. Here is the breakdown of what I was thinking. 1k- Dock 3700- 2 kneel boats 2 GP per day- Skilled workers to cut down the building time For regan I was thinking about making a small trading post that would be under his stores umbrella. This area will supply slaves with the basics needed to either leave and make there own way or stay and contribute to building draggs kingdom. I was thinking about using a persuasion check per 20 slaves freed and the number you roll = the number of people who stay with you. Other issue would be securing the ability for our boats to enter port and not only is paying the bribes that may come with that and the port fees but securing the proper intel to find where the slaves are and trying to free them. I would like to propose a per 10 days of downtime freeing slaves schedule. What do you guys think about this? Also I need a list of people who want to help us with the build costs to get this up and running. I have commitments from Finite, Regen , and myself Draggs did you want to help us with dock building? Ah, my nickname is now " Regen " lol. Appropriate as my position as Life Cleric and healer. We have Doppelgangsters and Regen so far. More to come later. The extension of a Trade Post in the Underdark near Draggs' Kingdom is a great Idea. We are on the way in making a store chain comrades. With the added benefit of each one aiding others in need (whether slave or free).

Drags will be spending his time on infrastructure and defenses. Having a dock will not do us any good if the place gets sacked the first time we leave or it can't support the new population.

kk so between 3 people we are looking at base cost is 1175 gp per person and if we want to cut the downtime we could hire a skilled laberor to build the boats with our assistance

Mike said: Drags will be spending his time on infrastructure and defenses. Having a dock will not do us any good if the place gets sacked the first time we leave or it can't support the new population. Very true! Cutting down time on building the dock is probably not worth it. We need to have good defenses BEFORE its up and running. I would rather save my extra gold to pay for guards when it is finished, than to pay for skilled workers to build it. A sudden, rushed building of docks and boats might draw too much attention. That said, I think that Fianait will also focus on helping to build defenses, as long as those defenses relate to her vendetta err *cough* campaign against slavery. As for nicknames, Fianait used to be known as 'Finny' by another group :)

I will aid Fianait as I promised to do. Just tell me when you know.

Alright i shall spend my downtime looking for +1 ammo and a cloak of protection then