Up in the North, the ponies have successfully found who, or rather, what was damaging the mine. But their quest is not over, as they go to look for the source of the trouble. In Baltimare, Iron, Silver, and Dark Star enjoy the fruits of defeating the cultists, while Midnight herds the remaining rescues.
We welcome any new players to join
1803 replies and 54 files omitted.
>>127776"You know," Iron leads on, tilting his head to the side as he leans in for a whisper "meth."
>>127778"What are you talking about?"
>>127776Hmm.... interesting. Spark continues the best he can.
>>127779"Were you not talking about 'meth' just a second ago?" Iron asks innocently, tilting his head to the side. "If I recall correctly, it either means number manipulation or drugs, so I figured it was one of the two."
[1d20 = 14]>>127782Dice roll.
>>127783Hi economic guy. How have you been?
>>127782She looks legitimately lost, having evidently never heard the word "meth" in relation to any kind of drug
"... I said math, and I don't know what you are talking about"
>>127787Yay! Can't wait to see your character.
>>127786Iron can't help but smile sheepishly. "I suppose it was simply some overly complicated word assosiation I jumbled up," he admits, scratching his chin in embarassment. "Anyways, yes, I can do math."
>>127787For record keeping, the drug "Pervitin" has been introduced in game and is all but stated to be the drug N,α-dimethylphenethylamine, which in 21st century America is called by the colloquial shorthand "Meth," but in-world is used to keep military pilots awake on long flights. At no point in the entire campaign have the words "Meth" or even "Methamphetamine" been used to refer to any drug at all, except for a lone out of character description that calls it "methamphetamine.">>127789"Oh, good! Well I have some paperwork on how interest has accrued on gambling debts and loans."
>>127785Spark keeps going until he comes across an area of flattened needles and a bush, forming an oval seven feet at the longest and three and a half feet at the widest
>>127790"...paperwork?" Iron asks, mildly puzzled at the prospect "It might be better if you show me what you mean."
>>127791Hmm... he goes to the narrowest point and looks towards the center.
>>127793It's kind of pressed down, almost like a bed
>>127792"Well, why don't you follow me"
She goes down the Bar, and towards a back area, past a couple rooms, and into a room with a desk and papers
"Here is one. We lent this stallion 200 bits, and we are trying to calculate the interest on his loan"
>>127794Spark wonders what would make a bed like this. He steps inside the oval.
>>127794Iron follows her without question before glancing down at the paper Cauldron is talking about.
>>127798Extra needles have been set down inside the oval, but Spark can feel that the dirt and mud beneath are pressed and stamped down beneath
>>127799Looking at the paper, there is nothing more than a name, a number, and a date, along with an additional number at the top
"So, this stallion borrowed 200 bits from us what will be two weeks this tuesday. He's a '4', as we rate them, so he is charged 10% per week, and he doesn't have any property to use as collateral. Now, I know he has a job and is paid every two weeks. That would be last Friday, and he hasn't paid since. So! The task is to figure out how much he has to pay when he does pay, and interest compounds. It's 200 bits so that's 20 bits after the first week..."
She pulls up a piece of note paper that is rather messy, and grabs a pencil in her mouth and starts writing. She talks around the pencil, which she holds in her mouth almost like a cigarette when talking to Iron
"Which is 220 bits, then the next week after that the interest is 22 bits, so 242 bits... then it's... let's round that to 24 bits the next week, so 264 bits after three weeks... then the fourth week it's...."
She scribbles on her note pad
Two hundred and.... eighty bits..."
She finishes scribbling
"And... there! And if it takes more than four weeks then it's a broken leg, because he has no reason to not pay us after two paychecks!"
>>127800>>127799Black Cauldron looks back down at the notepaper and blinks twice
"Or would it be 290 bits after four weeks....?"
>>127800>>127801Iron, for his part, looked quite focused, even as he yawned at the end of her walkthrough, wildly shaking his head because of it and slowly counting in a whisper. "...going by what you said without accidentally butchering it is 286 bits, since the interest would be about..." he counts once again, looking up in the air before back at Cauldron "26...? Meaning the amount from the third week plus 26 equals 286."
>>127802"No no, it's 10% of each prior week. So if it's 264 bits one week then the next week it's 26 bits interest, which means...... 290 bits is the total amount"
>>127803She pauses again
"Wait. By the third week it is actually 242 plus 24... so 266... so 292 the fourth week"
>>127804>>127803"Uh..." Iron had to rethink this whole thing over. "So we start at 200... then take away a zero, letting us add 20 more for the next week..." he proceeded to count in the air looking up. "220... then we take the zero, leaving us with 22..." A pause filled with mumbling follows "242... then take... uh... the two, which would lead to 24, which... is 264... then take the four, which should finally leave us with 26, then we add it with 264... and we get... 290..."
>>127805"Wait, no..." Iron stops "...yeah, it is 292."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gENVB6tjq_M>>127805"Yes, except I did the math wrong between the second and third weeks. It's actually 266."
She tries to smile at Iron
>>127806"There we go"
Now she's definitely smiling
>>127807Iron huffs slightly, smiling sheepishly
"Whew, that was a mind bender," he mutters out "but I bet the next ones will not be as bad."
>>127808She places away the simple sheet in a folder, and pulls out a new one
“Alright, this next stallion borrowed 400, With the first 200 at 5% but everything after that at 10%, and paid 139 bigs after the second week.... shit”
>>127809Iron tilts his head at the sudden curse word, looking at Cauldron expectantly to either continue or relay the news.
>>127810She looks back up to Iron with a big, toothy smile that looks more than a little nervous
"So that's... 430 after the first week... then... 33 interest the second week, for 463. But he paid 139, which brings it down to 324, which means.... 22 interest the third week for 346.... and this guy is probably going to want to pay more after that, so let's not bother with it for now"
>>127811"That does sound quite complex," he muses, listening intently before humming lightly "So for only 200 bits the interest is only... 5 parts out of a hundred... while the rest we can take a zero...?"He pauses "It is a weird way to paying it..."
>>127812“This pony gets a discount because he has borrowed in the past, and he pays back on a reasonable timeframe. That’s why it’s different”
>>127813Kek >>127814>>127811Nodding lightly, Iron muses on Cauldron's calculations, standing idle for a few tense, foucsed and awkward moments, mouth slightly moving as whispers of numbers could be heard from his lips. "...then the fourth week's total would be... 353 bits, right?" the native mutters out.
>>127815"Well, if it's 346 the thirs week, then it's.... 10 bits on the first two hundred, and 14 on the next 146....so that's 370, 24 bits interest"
>>127816"Huh?" Iron's thought bubble pops at Cauldron's response. "Wait, did you not say only the first 200 had 5 hundredths of interest? Would that not lead to 353 bits?"
>>127818She blinks
"Huh? That's what I meant. 353 is too low, I think"
>>127819"Hm..." the native mumbles, starting to softly bonk his head. "So we are not directly taking 139 bits out of the 200 that is based on the 5 hundreths but instead take 200 bits from the total for the 10 hundreths..." Iron seemed deep into his thinking, seconds passing by in his head. "...which gives a 26 bits of interest..."
The stallion mumbled some more calculations, tapping his hoof against the floor. "So you placed the 200 into the 5 hundreths interest while the rest is on 10 hundreths interest, right? That is how I can reach the number you have gotten."
>>127820"So that means that it is the last 200 that gets the 5 hundreths interest rate, then," he concludes hesitantly, unsure himself if his calculations are correct.
>>127820"Uh.... yes? I got 24 bits interest, not 26."
She seems confused
>>127822Iron grumbles, rubbing his temple before tapping his hoof. "Oh wait," he mutters out before looking at Cauldron "I am mixing up your results for the fourth week with my results from the third week, which is 353 if we substract the 139 bits given to the 200 bits total from the 5 hundreth interest, then placing the remaining bits on the 10 hundreths interest rate, which is about 3 and 26 bits respectively, equaling 29 bits interest."
The native seems to muse this aspect a bit more, mumbling more numbers under his breath. "...if I were to substract 200 from the total and place it in the 10 hundreth interest while keeping the 200 bits on the 5 hundreth, then I would get 24 bits interest, which is what was bugging me, meaning the 5 hundreth interest rate applies to the last 200 bits. Not the first 200."
>>127823"Alright, let's go over this again. He borrows 400 bits, at 5% for the first 200, and 10% for all after that. So that's 30 bits interest the first week, for 430 bits. The second week interest is 5% on 200 and 10% on 230, so 33 bits interest, 463 bits total. However, he pays us 139 bits, which reduces his total to... 324 bits. So then the third week he pays 5% on 200 and 10% on 124, which is 22 bits interest, and 344 bits total.... So the fourth week is 24 bits interest, and 368 bits total...
I mean, you
can say his payment goes towards the bits with the lower interest rate"
>>127824"Ah!" Iron realizes, eyes widening with a smile on his face at having figured such a conundrum out "now I understand. You meant every week's first 200 bits were at a 5 hundreths interest rate, not the loan's first 200 bits."
A few seconds passes, as he maintains that pose but his ears start to droop slightly, cheeks reddening and sheepish smile forming. "Then yes, it is indeed correct what you said."
He averts his gaze slightly, pouting softly as he basically made a fool out of himself in front of Cauldron.
>>127825Her ears droop as well, as she does an awkward smile
"I.... got it wrong the first time as well..." Then she looks away
>>127826Seeing Cauldron display try to soften his blunder, he looks at her,
gently planting a hoof on her shoulder. "Well, we are the unbeatable duo," he starts calmly, giving Cauldron a warm smile "we are unstoppable as long as we work together. We did get it right eventually, right?" Amist the encouraging words, Cauldron could see his ears straighten slightly as his eyes exhude a deep level of confidence in her underneath all the platitudes.