@Spoopy Scary I'm gonna knock your lights out. Is that ok?

@Spoopy Scary Is it bad that even I hate Arastoph?

@Spoopy Scary Is it bad that even I hate Arastoph?

So much for being Mr. Charisma :P

Well if it makes you feel better Alula doesn't hate Arastoph. She is 100% convinced that her hat is worth more then 165 gold. It's practically priceless to her.

@Dragonbud But it is her hat! She should recognize it and not need to pay for it!

@Dragonbud But it is her hat! She should recognize it and not need to pay for it!

Hehehehehe don't worry Alula would have some cryptic words about this situation.

@Spoopy Scary I'm gonna knock your lights out. Is that ok?

I hope you don't mean literally, because that'd actually be keeping a merchant from conducting business, which is the point of his chosen profession.

@Spoopy Scary Is it bad that even I hate Arastoph?

As long as you don't let it affect your decision making as some other DMs do. I have to ask why though. He doesn't explicitly know that the hat belongs to Alula, and while this method of haggling is quite underhanded, it is perfectly viable and even pretty effective as you can see with Alula. We're just riding out the few bumps in the road before we integrate him into the party. By that point, I've every confidence that he'd be a very useful member for making the party money to buy the supplies they need.

Upon meeting, I agree I wouldn't like him as a person, but I could also appreciate how clever and sly the man is.

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As long as you don't let it affect your decision making as some other DMs do. I have to ask why though. He doesn't explicitly know that the hat belongs to Alula, and while this method of haggling is quite underhanded, it is perfectly viable and even pretty effective as you can see with Alula. We're just riding out the few bumps in the road before we integrate him into the party. By that point, I've every confidence that he'd be a very useful member for making the party money to buy the supplies they need.

Upon meeting, I agree I wouldn't like him as a person, but I could also appreciate how clever and sly the man is.

No, it won't change any decisions, I just don't like him as a person. But I like you, so why would I make you suffer because your character is a dick?

@Spoopy Scary Kelvin would appreciate the deftness, if he had ever really met the man... xD Not much interaction between them yet.

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No, it won't change any decisions, I just don't like him as a person. But I like you, so why would I make you suffer because your character is a dick?

Okay, thanks! Forgive my suspicion, I've been with a couple of very bad DMs in the past. I just typically don't look at character at face value, so even if a character is a dick, I can still come to like them for their values.

@Spoopy Scary Kelvin would appreciate the deftness, if he had ever really met the man... xD Not much interaction between them yet.

The perfect business partners. Kelvin will be his go-to man for his supply of explosives.

@Spoopy ScaryAnd Arastoph Kelvin's goto-man for resupply :P
@Kronshi Yo, whats the turnover between buying supplies for dynamite, and reselling the finished product?

If it helps, that involves the explosive compound, cotton string, and a lot of paper/glue for rolling the tube.

@The Wanderer The supplies needed to make a stick of dynamite would cost 135 gold but if properly made could go for 180-260 gold pieces.

Not just the supplies. You got to consider the amount of time that goes into making them, and the amount of money to sufficiently pay each affiliated member of that product. The time it takes to make a quality stick of dynamite might be worth about 50 gold, and to pay the people responsible for supplying the product, maybe another 50 gold each. Assuming Arastoph had a hand in it, the sticks could sell for well over 200, like you indicated.

Not just the supplies. You got to consider the amount of time that goes into making them, and the amount of money to sufficiently pay each affiliated member of that product. The time it takes to make a quality stick of dynamite might be worth about 50 gold, and to pay the people responsible for supplying the product, maybe another 50 gold each. Assuming Arastoph had a hand in it, the sticks could sell for well over 200, like you indicated.

Kelvin can make explosives, as well as work in pyrotechnics. ;) Just get him the stuff. They can split the profit, even at only 40 gold per stick, thats a good 20 gold each. If we got more, we would be rolling in it.

Arastoph is actually really interesting to me. If I may put it in DnD terms, he seems like a character who put a lot of points into Intelligence and Charisma, but used Wisdom as a dump stat.

Because he's brilliant, right? That much is clear. Dude's brain is going a mile a minute, trying to weasel as much as he can out of any given situation or even conversation. I think that aspect of his character ties in really well with his backstory, But... he doesn't seem to have much of a sense for picking his battles. Like, sure, he's smart enough to con the paladin and profiteer off the oracle and lie and swindle and steal and trick, but at the same time he's not smart enough not to. I think a truly clever person would look at the situation he's in (isolated, away from his wealth, traveling with a group of sort of volatile people through enemy territory), and decided that he could hold off on the lying and conning for a day or two until he got back to civilization.

All said, I really like Arastoph and how you're playing him. (I mean, I sort of like him. I think he's interesting, but he is a goddamn dickass). I think it'll be interesting to see how his dynamic with the party evolves, particularly with Vis and Carver.

It'll be hard not to work for others, when you just accepted payment for working for others... ;) Arastoph caught in his own trap?

He isn't taking orders from anyone. He just perceives it as two separate parties where one exchanges a service and the other is paying them for it, but the one that gives the service isn't taking orders or anything. It is like a trade agreement. He just travels with them because he still has to meet black market contacts across the continent, and travelling with the group is a good way to maintain sustained income and simultaneously receive protection.

Would anyone like to post before I do

Even if someone did, I would expect Alula to immediately put the dagger in his hand and take the hat back despite what anyone says. :P

And now she has a nice little string to keep her hat from falling off again.