Hello fellow sages. My pcs have started a estate they coined PalmHaven. The estate is missing a well and they want to survey one. Is there a place to locate the athasian cost for that kind of work.
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Just convert Gp to Cp and use that number for this kind of work. The real problem is whether there is any underground source of water in the area. It seems to me that your group of PCs have it back to front. You need to identify the underground source of water before establishing an estate. You could get the best surveyor on Athas and not find water if there isn’t any to be had.
You should already have indicators of the existence of a ground water source. Certain trees should be around the source, from which they draw water. If there are no trees, that is an indicator that there is no underground water source, or at least not an accessible one.
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Well, they do and they don’t have it backwards. They’re surveying (for) a well, not drilling it. @redking You’re describing an aspect of such a process.
@Stronghumankind You might use a Earth or Water cleric to provide such guidance or spells to the same effect.
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They’ve already established the estate without knowing if there is water. Assuming the OP is the DM, I suppose that there being ground water on the estate is a foregone conclusion… But it shouldn’t be. Having the PC invest in the estate and build it up only to discover that there is no water is very Dark Sun
Maybe.
Perhaps they received the land but haven’t put any structures up yet. Maybe they were gifted the land sight-unseen. Maybe they killed the previous owner/resident and took his/her land.
Or, yeah, maybe they’ve sunk cash into buildings and such before looking into a well and this a lesson they need to learn.
Heck, maybe there’s an oasis and they want a back-up or tightly controlled water source.
Questions, not assumptions.
@Stronghumankind What’s the sitch? Inquiring minds want to know. 
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Indeed. @Stronghumankind, don’t be so coy. Let us know exactly what scenario you are talking about
Establishing an estate is the same more or less as establishing a colony. Not many people know this, but many Europeans colonies in North America failed. People speak of the Mayflower, but there were other colonies like Jamestown and Roanoke that failed. Roanoke has a mystery surrounding the strange disappearance of its inhabitants.
Anyway, are you sure that the land comprising this estate is not a fire cleric burial ground? It’s certainly something that the PCs would want to know, and if they don’t, perhaps disturbing the resting place of the fire clerics will make them rise as undead creatures ready to punish the blasphemers.
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Sorry for the late reply @redking @The_DMs_Revenge!
The_DMs_Revenge was correct
They killed the previous owner and took his land. A minor Merchant outside the village of Toden near Urick. He attempted to capture their patron on the behest of his patron they fought and after losing 2 PCs and christening new PCs from the freed gladiators there. They were gifted the estate by a ranked Templar of the Civil Bureau, whom one of the surviving PCs has been courting regularly for information. They still had to pay a estate tax of 5,000cp. Preform some borderline evil things for his cronies, and stave off a raider attack. They don’t want to pay the water cost every month.
I was thinking that their would be access to the massive aquafer under Urick (cannon in the novels). They might not get a lot and I would think would require a drill to withdraw. Does this sound reasonable?
@redking I love the Fire Cleric Burial Ground Idea!!! Using that!
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Not outside the realm of possibilities. Definitely look for growing plants as a hint of where to locate a well, given the chance.
Digging/ drilling it could definitely be a major effort, unless they know a earth cleric or a preserver.
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Put the access to the aquifer directly through the fire cleric burial ground. Surveyor comes in, “yes - there is a ground source of water here, but it is accessed through some sort of burial ground”. Let the PCs make the decision and suffer the consequences.
There must be a reason for the previous owner not accessing water that is available with a bit of work. Probably because the previous owner knew better than to disturb the (un)dead.
EDIT: The fire cleric corpses are already ripe for animation as undead because their dead bodies were improperly interred. They should have been cremated in fire (they are fire clerics, after all), but where instead just thrown into a ditch. All it takes is for there resting place to be disturbed for them to completely lose it.
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@The_DMs_Revenge they dont, but they have befrended a group of outcast water hunters who they saved from a Elven Crime boss. They offerd to find a well for them as payment. @redking One of my pcs is in Fact a Fire Cleric. So this will be perfect.
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