My players have set their sights on plundering the Righteous Path (the Into the Maw adventure from the back of the Core book) and next session they'll be attempting to discover the location of the mysterious system. The book gives a +0 Inquiry test to ask around the Gilt Processionals, but notes that this will alert everyone to their intentions; okay, fine. It then says "some quiet asking around" will lead them to a master mapmaker but gives no further details. I figure a Commerce test is the most appropriate, but then I started to wonder about the difficulty...
We are told a few things. Firstly, Starchart Collections are Extremely Rare; secondly, that even poorly-recorded ancient scraps claiming to map Winterscale's Domain are "priceless and invaluable" ( HA p139); thirdly, that maps and charts of varying accuracy and provenance are for sale in the Court of the Dead and, presumably, the Processional as a whole. So where does that leave our bold Explorers, looking to establish the location of a single system?
How does one establish the Availability of starcharts generally? Does that Availability change depending on the part of the Expanse they depict? How does accuracy factor in - does it change the Availability, or just use the Craftmanship rules for the final Acquisition?
And they want to know where one system is in Winterscale's Realm; do they need to buy a local starchart, buy starcharts for their whole route, or simply be told where the system is? If they aren't actually buying anything, does it still come under Commerce?
I'm having real trouble pinning this down, any thoughts would be welcome.