Saltmarsh

After the council meeting Venemar will ask Hiram for where he can find the Stoutlys.

The next morning Venemar will hire a horse (and tackle) for 10gp a day, ride to Seaton, sell his banded armour (I understand this will be at 20% value therefore 18gp) and buy a suit of plate mail. Then he will ride back to Saltmarsh, returning the horse. I will make adjustments to the character sheet accordingly.

What's the rate for the costs of staying in inns etc?

So here’s the plan:
First day: read magic and then detect magic (what does it identify, among the loot of the Sea Ghost and anything left over from Selgore mansion that might not yet have been examined (the golden ovoid, for instance)); copy find familiar through ordinary means. Eat, rest. (100gp spent)

Second day: he memorizes write and read magic, using the latter to decipher the last remaining spells in both recovered spell books, and the identify spell he bought. Try to learn identify (which he bought), magic missile, message and spider climb (he'd like to, but still can't learn web, which is 2nd-level). He miraculously learns all four. He will use 1d3+1 usages of special inks to copy as many of those spells as he can. He can copy all four spells into his spell book in four hours (one usage remaining). He sends his errand boy to fetch more special ink and the components required for the find familiar and identify spells. Eat, drink, rest. (spent 100 (identify scroll?) + 180 (more ink) + 100 (find familiar materials), +100 (pearl for identify)).

Third day: Albionus memorizes find familiar and identify. He'll conduct the ritual to summon a familiar (I'll leave all the rolls to @WhtKnt). Assuming he doesn't spend 24 hours on it, he will then cast identify on the wand and, if time allows, the longsword (leave the rolls to @WhtKnt too, would rather not know where Albionus failed! ;-P). Exhausted (reduced to con 4), he'll have his errand boy help him eat some soup, and then fall asleep to recover.

Fourth day: depending on results of the previous days (how many magic items detected on Day 1, whether he now has a familiar, etc.), Albionus might either take his chances copying the spell web, or continue identifying spells (two castings possible, if he's not copying spells).

Very curious to know what the detect magic and identify spells may have revealed.

A very fruitful half-week of intellectual labours, it would seem!

Can Gazza have accompanied Venemar to Seaton and bought Plate mail too, I will deduct the cost from the individual share Gazza would have received and update his character sheet

[OOC: Late night of Day 3; at Constitution 4, 5hp]

Assuming that with eight hours of sleep he will be back to full health. With Archibald, he gains another 1d3+1 hp (roll below). On day 4,
- he will memorize identify and write;
- he will attempt the hazardous copying of the web spell (rolling the number of uses for the special inks; save vs magic, and damage roll in case of failure); [Success!! Spell copied succesfully, and no damage taken]
- he will attempt to identify the broadsword and, if possible, the ring (I'll leave those rolls to @WhtKnt).

I'll tally all expenses later, and deduct it from Albionus' sheet.

If Archibald ever dies, Albionus is in for a nasty surprise (permanent 8hp damage...).

Expenses incurred:

- errand boy, four days of service = 10gp
- materials needed to copy Find familiar with the "ordinary" procedure on day 1 = 100gp
- using write to copy Identify (bought for 100gp), Magic missile, Message, Spider climb (4 uses of special inks, exhausting the first flask and starting the second; one usage left over; 180gp), acquire materials for the summoning of a familiar (100gp), acquire materials for a first casting of identify (100gp) = 480gp
- Acquire special inks (180gp; after casting two uses remain), and a pearl for identify spell (100gp) = 280gp

TOTAL = 870gp

When I played 1st ed actively, I house-ruled identify for it to be a bit more reliable and useful. In 5ed, the pearl is not consumed, but in old school games, it was. In the old SSI computer games — Pool of radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds—, merchants would identify stuff for you, but for 100gp a pop. On the other hand, it was 100% guaranteed to work. It's a strange thing, this spell. Imagine the Wizard lord, at 10th level, accepting to identify items for a party of adventurers: he'll cast once, and get 11 segments of identification out of it (with a mere 65% probability of revealing one property, per item, per segment). If you fail, you may 'reveal' untrue properties (to potentially comical and/or deadly effect). Then said wizard will be exhausted for a lengthy period of time (and low constitution mages might not even be able to cast the spell without killing themselves... or at least going into a coma).

I think 2ed had a 3rd or 4th nope, 8th (!!!) level spell (Analyze Dweomer) that was far more effective (could still fail and had mechanics for exhaustion, though, and a casting time of 8 hours!). They also changed identify, so the chance was a flat 10% p/ level of the caster, with a cap at 90% (so there was always a 1 in 20 chance to get no info, and a 1 in 20 chance to get a false reading from an item).

As far as AD&D is concerned, Identify was the only way, besides pure experimentation through trial and error... You can see that in this adventure, for instance, the idea was that a wizard PC, having found the wand and the word inscribed in the defeated M-U's tome of spells, would attempt to use the word to activate the wand.

Where do we stand then?

Albionus has all he needs for now. Ready to go.