TreeQuest: Magitech (Riot Quest)

Voting closed.

Yes, @Mount. Elements, I have your votes corrected in my notes and the turn. I've also added @Prime 2.0's barely-too-late vote to the same notes and turn.

Research into Clever Trees boomed (bloomed?), with progress almost reaching the halfway point.

The Forest's spare Resource supplies are now approaching "enough" to buffer a typical-to-bad year. Maybe another 5 or 10 to be sure? Of course, more is always merrier - and the Forest is certainly growing faster this year than usual…

The Collector Tree is now more than half-grown, its height surpassing 8 feet and climbing. Its dark-green leaves happily drink in the sun's growing light.

The Forest hit a minor snag when an errant wild boar destroyed a few growing Trees. But the Forest has, nonetheless grown this turn - if only slightly. And alas, that same boar seems to have distracted the Tree that sought to reach out for any sapient minds. You are fairly certain that said Boar is not a sapient mind, for whatever that is worth.

Three possible upsides emerge from the boar's presence: First, the lone Tree keeping watch to keep the Forest safe had something to do and a squirrel to warn - even if Arthur Scrat (as the tiny squirrel has been tentatively named) would probably have stayed up in the safety of your branches regardless. Second, work on a better defense for the Forest, a Shield Tree, has begun and made good progress for the given effort. Third, a further attempt to connect to local wildlife has memorized the feel of a boar - even if the connection attempt was rebutted (at least for now).

Research was continued, also with good progress for the given effort, into Lens Trees. While the project is still in its infancy, you are happy with the results - and happy that a stray attempt to focus light as much as possible failed to generate more than a wisp of smoke and a tiny bit of scorched bark. Something to consider later, after you've finished the current project.

One Heart Tree started research into Thorns, and actually managed to make some progress. Admittedly, "ultra-rough bark" is the current effect, and a far cry from the "Forest-shielding barricade" you were looking for, but it's a start!

Finally, you've asked your tiny squirrel minion, who has been tentatively named Arthur Scrat, to help your Minds connect to his family's minds. So far, the progress seems good. Offering nuts to squirrels produces good results - pretty much as you'd all expected. You could probably influence a few more baby squirrels now, if with weaker connections than Arthur Scrat's. It seems to make more sense to try to connect - at a weak level - to a large chunk of the local squirrel population, rather than having only a handful of tightly-connected squirrel operatives, so that's what you're trying for for now.

A bit of curiosity on a few younger Trees' parts led to one of the Forest's eldest Trees - a rather cranky old cedar that protests vocally (of all the strange things) whenever any Tree or shrub tries "crowding its space" - to reminiscing on "how good things were when I was a sapling."
Ignoring the repeated statements - nobody can spend weeks repeating the same things like a tree - that old cedar said a few very interesting things:
"I may be only three-hundred-odd years old, but I remember the good old days when Trees were ancient and things were done properly.
"How ancient? Over a millennium! In my youth, I spoke to those old sages that had seen the Greater Cycle over a thousand times!
"Where did they go? There was a real-bad drought, and a massive fire, and a plague of locusts, and the creeping rot - you know, the one that's always waiting to finish you off when you're already sick from something else - well, the creeping rot did what the creeping rot does.
"What about those flying things? Huh. Kinda miss those. What? No, I never saw one; you don't have to see a thing to miss it, young whippersnapper!
"They disappeared maybe 800 years ago? That's about right, now, I think. Memory isn't what it used to be.
"What else happened around then? Well, the elders said that the air smelled a bit different. And… Yeah, that's the same timeframe as the disappearing stars.
"There were these fast-moving stars that would cross from horizon to horizon lickety-split. As fast as the flying things, even - crossing the sky in minutes. They started disappearing, slowly, over some decades. A few - four, I think - elders claimed they'd disappeared in streaks of fire - at least the few that any of us saw disappear. I'd always wondered if they all disappeared that way or not, over the horizon somewhere…
"Well, yes, I know that one of the things still shows up every few months. I'm not stupid, just old. But there used to be some of them at nearly all times, and half-a-dozen in the sky at the same time.
"Would anyone know more? Not the beasts. Never knew any of them to pass along tales more than a generation or two. Maybe someone with a full Mind? Perhaps a two-legs? Who knows what they do.
"Or there could be a truly Ancient Tree out there somewhere? It would be nice to feel young again… If we could contact one and convince it to share its memories, maybe that would have a clue?
"Or maybe we can find what's left of the old stuff if we explore far enough?
"Or perhaps there's some sort of symbol; I mean, that one Oak still has symbols carved onto its bark and it seems like the two Humans who did the carving had an intent/meaning for it. While that was carved barely under a century ago, maybe some Minds somewhere left carvings or markings that have lasted?
"Did any of the two-legs show up after or during the disappearance? Not that I know of - but come to think of it none of the Really Old Tales speak of Elves. Then again, none of my Elders mentioned them as a New Thing either. Aargh, enough questions! Go away! I'm busy drinking sunlight!"

---

Actions:

Communication:
[ ][Action] Reach Out to Minds (Psychic)
-Successes sort-of stack. You're not sure how difficult this will be. Better results if more successful. Possibility of finding "there's nothing within X miles" - but even something like that will be good to know.
-1 success banked.

[ ][Action] Connect to Local Squirrels (Psychic)
-You have successfully connected to one squirrel; how about making friends with more?
-4 of 10 successes.

[ ][Action] Connect to Local Wildlife (Psychic)
-Wolves - scouts? Bears - heavy combat? Deer - trimming invasive plants? You know you've seen all these; you have only vague ideas on what to do with them.
-2 successes banked.

Research:
[ ][Action] Research Lens Trees
-3 of 30 successes; Lens Trees will give a permanent Growth Bonus

[ ][Action] Research Clever Trees
-14 of 30 successes; Clever Trees will give a permanent Research Bonus
-Due to the unusual requirements of integrating Clever Trees with the rest of the Forest, you may build a maximum of 1 Clever Tree per Magnitude of the Forest (currently 1). Each Clever Tree will give +10% bonus to all Research successes. Each is expected to cost 20 successes.

[ ][Action] Research Thorns
-1 of 10 successes; unlocks a Defense action to build up a stockpile of Thorns that will damage any invaders

Survival:
[ ][Action] Store Resources Against Future Need
-11 stored; this will function as a spare HP pool against anything that gets through your Defense, and may be useful for other things

[ ][Action] Analyze Creek and Tree Placement
-Oh, where could we place trees down in the fertile soil by the creek, without them getting washed away by said creek?
-Takes 10 successes.
-Grants a +25% bonus to Grow the Forest only, until we hit Magnitude 3 (67 progress to go… so moderately more efficient than 1-to-1 progress into Grow the Forest, assuming it's finished this turn).

Defense:
[ ][Action] Brace Yourself
-Not a terribly effective action, but it does more-or-less work; I suggest you build a Shield Tree as soon as reasonably possible. Like most defenses, this does little to nothing if you are not attacked.

Growth:
[ ][Action] Grow the Forest
-8 of 25 successes to Magnitude 2

[ ][Action] Grow <Treename>
-Replace <Treename> with the name of a Special Tree from the Front Page. Variable cost. You can have up to 10 Special Trees per Magnitude of the Forest.
-6 successes banked on a Collector Tree.
-2 successes banked on a Shield Tree.

Offense:
[ ][Action] Release Annoying Pollen
-Not a terribly powerful attack, but it could annoy invaders, at least. Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

Focus

Choose any one action from the above for the Forest to focus on. This is voted upon by the entire group, and is in addition to the individual actions taken by each member.

[ ][Focus] Action Name

This Action will receive a number of automatic successes equal to the Magnitude of the Forest (currently 1) and any bonuses from other sources.

Squirrel Actions

Choose what to ask Arthur Scrat to do during Turn 4.
[][Squirrel] Train itself
[][Squirrel] Explore your Forest
[][Squirrel] Try to figure out a favorite food
[][Squirrel] Help your Trees connect to other Squirrels
[][Squirrel] Write-in

Your Votes should look like the following:

[ ][Action] Action
[ ][Focus] Action
[ ][Squirrel] Squirrel action

Newcomers should add one of the following:

[ ][Tree] Heart Tree
[ ][Tree] Mind Tree
[ ][Tree] Root Tree

This vote will always be open.