TreeQuest: Magitech (Riot Quest)

Turn 14 Results

At the beginning of this turn, the Winter Solstice - and, immediately following, Christmas - are upon you!

And, in something the more-and-less ancient texts would consider a true example of the Christmas Spirit, the Forest unanimously agreed to give some of your hard-earned Resources to Newton Village for a Christmas present.

It takes a bit of work, but you manage to work out some barely-workable hitches, build a primitive sleigh (out of rough planks really), convince eight deer to use the whole contraption to drive some foodstuff into town, and even convince your various Creatures not to devour all the food first. (Arthur Scrat is briefly very difficult to convince - but once he is, he determinedly ignores the food, and concentrates on riding on the lead Deer as the driver… more or less.)

One particularly Unpredictable Tree has been experimenting with various fruits and nuts, to see what effects they can have on Two-Legs. Under the circumstances, you've had to leave out a few… potentially hazardous options. But the majority of the work is here.

You've sent in fruits that don't spoil for months. You've sent in berries that melt on the tongue like snowflakes. You've sent in walnuts without shells (a perennial squirrel favorite - though you haven't included the matching Tasty Shells for when a squirrel just wants to chew and chew and chew something tasty).

Old Man Materson loves pre-roasted chestnuts (may contain fire magic; manufactured on equipment that processes nuts and tree-nuts; CAUTION: THE CHESTNUTS YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENJOY MAY BE VERY HOT!). Gustav Miller and Annabeth Tavish share a box of salted mixed nuts, close to a celebratory bonfire, and when he puts an arm around her she curls into it with a smile. The six youngest non-toddler kids - two each Grimm, Tavish, and Miller - proceed to toss food back and forth and see what the strangest expression each can make upon tasting some of the "PROPERTIES - SAFE; TASTE - VERY EXPERIMENTAL" foods. And whether they can swallow said foods. Ben Grimm (second child in his family) and Henry Miller (third child in his family) get into a contest of what they can swallow that Henry eventually wins by eating an earthworm flavored apple without even flinching.

There are a few more practical foods, too. Fruits that sometimes, unreliably but helpfully, make you warmer (or, equally often, more able to bear the cold) for the next few hours. Greens that are built to be juicy and… about as tasty as greens ever are - but filled with Intent to Nourish (it's not hurting, at least!). Every flavor you can think of, and a bunch you possibly shouldn't have, right in the middle of winter when the food is always preserved.

And, to cap it all off: Exploding hollow nuts, that everyone sets off at midnight, to end the festivities with a bang.

(-2 Resources. Newton Village seems to like and trust you more. Additional information on foods?)

---

Several Trees put in a determined attempt to Grow the second Lens Tree, regardless of the winter weather. And they had significant success, doing nearly half the work, on top of the progress already made. The Deer put their full efforts towards finishing this second Lens Tree. And these two, together, with the work already done last turn, almost managed to finish it. But not quite.

"Merry Christmas, Forest!" the Grimm kids - Betty and Ben - chorus. They set two very heavy chests down on the forest floor, supervised by the proud gaze of Mr. Tavish.

"Well? Open it!" shouts Ben.

Arthur Scrat manages to lift the lid of one. It's full of rocks - Linestone, actually. He tilts his head quizzically.

"Nope; you don't get to keep the Linestone," the elder Grimm child, Betty, tells you. She opens the chest she'd been carrying to reveal more Linestone. "It's what it's storing that's your Christmas present!"

Then the two siblings closed their eyes, gestured - hands open - to the Forest, and said, "Merry Christmas!"

And a trickle, no, a stream - incredibly impressive for a child - of Magic flowed. From the Linestone in the chests to the children. From the children to you, freely given.

And the second Lens Tree grows, twists, finishes its last branches. And the dim winter light brightens.

Later, you ask how they managed this. "I've been working on teaching them Magic," Mr. Tavish says, "and they're learning incredibly quickly. (At least as long as I can make it interesting, or show them why a technique is useful.) They wanted to give you a Christmas present, and after a bit of discussion, they decided they'd master storing energy in Linestone, accumulate about as much as they could, then give you the energy for Christmas. I take it that the gift was useful?"

Mr. Tavish also answered the inevitable following questions: Yes, you can store Magic power in Linestone. No you generally can't steal/use someone else's power - not unless you could steal it from them in person. No, multiple people can't normally share a stone - though the Forest counts as one to a sufficient degree to bypass this, as you'll find with a bit of experimentation. No, you can't store infinite power or store power forever - because there's a small percentage loss of stored power and a small flat stored-power-loss, per day. Yes, it took about 30 pounds of Linestone to store 1.5 successes, though a more efficient setup could improve this. No, storing energy in Linestone isn't perfectly efficient even if you retrieved the Magic as soon as you stored it. Yes, it's still useful at times. No, this isn't the primary use of Linestone, typically. Yes, certain magical rocks, metals, gems, and other things, are more efficient at storing Magic power. Yes, those tend to be correspondingly more rare and expensive.

(Second Lens Tree grown. Lens Tree Growth bonus increased to +20%. Laser base range increases from 100 yards to 150 yards.)

---

You figured out some important improvements to the Shields, and even got a small stress-test in the form of a serious ice-storm. The ice by itself was annoying. The gusty wind immediately afterwards could have been lethal to many a Tree, in any prior year. There's a lot to be thankful for, this year! (2 more damage blocked; +10% bonus to all Shield successes per Shield Tree; further effects for Elder Shield Trees.)

Your work on the Ice-Sword is complete! You have successfully learned Ice Magic (at a more basic level than you understand Growth, you think - so about equivalent to Fire), and managed to arm Arthur Scrat and the Squirrel Sentinels with tiny little ice-swords. Grown of the toughest wood you have available, with every trick you have to further strengthen them, the Squirrel Ice-Blades are definitely not as strong as the harder metals - but they'll stand up to more damage than a typical Squirrel can deal (assuming nobody starts gnawing on them).

One particularly hungry coyote - coming up the southern trail - got a paw nearly frozen off by Arthur Scrat wielding his Ice-Blade. And you weren't even trying particularly hard - you built the Blades to draw from your own Magic, and you can force more power through the swords or less as-needed. You're pretty sure you could now build Ice or Fire Swords, at full size if needed, designed to draw power from the welder - but since you're expecting the Squirrels to face full Monsters, it's probably good that you can pour more energy through the Blades than a Squirrel could afford to provide.

With some serious effort, you have successfully Connected to Beavers! Beavers modify their surroundings more than almost any creature in this world - ignoring all creatures with full Minds, that is. (Really, so do Ants, in their own way… but that is a task you're barely getting started on.) Beavers - generally speaking - tend to gnaw down Trees in order to build their dams. Of course, since you're already working on building dams anyway, the Beavers can avoid harming you. Now, Beavers have to chew - this is genuinely a requirement, due to the way their teeth perpetually grow (something the Squirrels also experience). But Beavers could definitely be highly selective in their chewing, if they wished.

And they very much do wish. As you Connected with the colony of Beavers down the creek, you immediately noticed that they were deeply stressed. The pack of coyotes that deterred your Squirrels from further investigations is hungrier than ever, and keeping more than half an eye on the Beaver pond. Indeed, the Beavers repeatedly had to break off expansion attempts to said pond, through the prior year, to evade said coyotes. As such, pretty much the moment you offer to help them move upstream to your dams and section of the creek, they enthusiastically agree. It'll take a turn to move them, but next turn you should have Beavers available - and they'll be massively assisting you with the dam, if nothing else. That said, please do have a few points of Resources available - they'll be needing around 4-5 to get through the rest of the winter in good health, across the next two turns.

Two other Connection projects are beginning. First, Ants. Out of all creatures that you can access, you the Trees yourselves have the most familiarity with Ants. By contrast, the most similar creatures you can access are the Bees. Long story short: You have a decent vantage point for this Connection, but not spectacular.

Second, your Forest is Connecting to Wolves. Wolves are very much showing up now and again. You'd say they're a lot like dogs - indeed, the Village's suggestions on taming dogs are almost right here, so you think the difficulty will be somewhere between tame-animal and unknown-wild-animal.

One Tree's effort into understanding Animals has led to a key insight into the life of all creatures, including the Two-Legs and the Forest itself - all creatures have some sort of strange, tiny, diluted, fire within them! They take in some sort of fuel and burn it, but in an incredibly limited and controlled way! This will make Connection permanently slightly easier with all living creatures, with and without Minds! (+5% to all Communication actions, permanently. Slight improvement to Fire understanding.)

Minor problems seem to have plagued any attempt to stockpile Thorns, this turn. Distractions galore, the ice-storm and wind managing to freeze the few tender shoots that could have been a working attempt, and Arthur Scrat even chewing on one or two… An attempt to Grow the first Sensing Tree similarly failed to a cold-snap, though a much smaller effort failed in that case.

More effort has gone into gathering and storing spare resources for later - more underground than aboveground, at this point. After a celebratory gift to Newton Village, the Forest is left with exactly 42 spare resources. You get the feeling that a long long ways away, some being or another had a good long chuckle. (+10% resource gain next-turn only. No, this won't be a regular thing, but it did make me laugh. And possibly someone in-universe; who knows?)

A bit more effort has gone into getting more Unusual Lumber, and was mostly successful. One Tree's research into "imbuing wood with magic in various ways" failed to find anything truly new, but co-opted bits of the Ice-Sword research in ways that prove interesting and could be sold - you can make wood that is better than average at storing magic, or wood that is designed for a Fire or Ice sword. (The Tree also managed one bit of wood that magically exploded when lit, but that success hasn't yet been replicated.) (+2; 11 total successes in finding interesting lumber.)

The Moles put in a determined effort to Mine for Linestone. Perhaps due to frosty days, it went slightly worse than expected, and instead of nearly-done you're only just over halfway to earning a favor from Newton Village for the Linestone.

Work on the second dam continues, albeit slowly. Work on Improving the Dangerous Terrain was similar. Likewise with a continued effort to Grow the Forest.

Research into Elder Lens Trees has progressed to the point of understanding them, at least mostly. The upgrade will cost 30 each, and grant a mere +5% to Growth over normal Lens Trees. However, they will also each grant +10% to Survival - partly via increased light available to the Forest, and partly due to some rather clever tricks to burn away any pests afflicting the Trees.

One Tree spends a while trying to master Dark Magic. This goes thoroughly awry at one point, with the Tree's own shadow animating and trying to devour said Tree. The Tree is, thankfully, experienced with odd happenings and tremendously quick on the uptake, and manages to get the Lens Trees to throw a burst of light at the animated shadow. When this merely stuns said shadow for a second, the Tree turns around and conjures a ring of flames around itself. The shadow dissipates, leaving the Forest thoroughly spooked - but also having completed some good preliminary research into Dark/Darkness Magic.

Research into more-advanced movement goes slowly but has made fractional progress; the path two Trees pursued looks like a dead-end technique, alas. By contrast, research into wood-based mechanisms (gears and such) is basically just an extrapolation from the Traps you have already constructed, and the technology that Newton Village has shared with you - building any sort of complicated gearing takes several minutes with your best Movement, but is certainly something you can do with a bit of effort. Do consider writing-in anything you wish to build with these; it shouldn't take much effort at this point.

Arthur Scrat got a bit of a cold, or some equivalent, and had to rest. But the rest of the Squirrels spent about two weeks just exploring the Forest. They found a bank of rocks that, when hit with a weak laser, crumble into some sort of powder that is quite good for the soil, according to your Trees' Roots. Its quantity is finite, but it should be helpful for a bit once the Growing Season starts to kick in. This will provide a Growth Bonus in the Spring.

---

Actions, Turn 15:

Communication:
Note: A fantastic insight grants you +5% on all Communication actions.

[ ][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.
-This ignores Newton Village and the people thereof.
-0 successes banked.

[ ][Action] Connect to Local Wildlife (Psychic)
-Wolves - scouts? Bears - heavy combat? Beavers - creek work and construction? You know you've seen all these; you have only vague ideas on what to do with them.
-Feel free to write in a specific request. The Forest is reaching that point where it can target specific classes of animals.
-Anything that Newton Village is familiar with is discounted 50% in difficulty due to them helping you understand the creatures.
-Monsters are harder to reach than normal animals. If you want to grab a specific monster, have your animals locate it first.
-2.1 unspecified successes banked.
-1 of ??? successes towards Ants.
-2 of ??? successes towards Wolves.

Research:
Note: Your Clever Trees grant you +20% on Research actions.

[ ][Action] Research Elder Wise Trees
[ ][Action] Research Elder Lens Trees
-3.3 of 5 successes
[ ][Action] Research Elder Shield Trees (Magic Research)
-0 of 5 successes per category; enables upgrading one type of Special Tree to Elder Special Tree

[ ][Action] Research Laser Rifle (Ancient-Tech Research)
-This will improve any light-based attack you use, considerably increasing range, increasing accuracy, and adding a +50% bonus to damage successes.
-You think the Laser Rifle is missing its power supply, so you're not going to be getting much progress on that.
-You doubt this will be an easy reverse-engineering project, but you also believe that it - plus a few smaller projects - will generate an incredibly-powerful attack.
-Double bonus from Clever Trees. Sensing Trees also grant +10% each. Reduced difficulty from prior analysis of Ancient-Technology Ice Sword.
-5 of ??? successes

[ ][Action] Ice/Fire Negacion (Magic Research)
-You understand Ice. You understand Fire. Getting them to work together, by contrast, is difficult. On the other hand, this would be a tremendously powerful magic if you could get it working…
-0 of ??? successes

[ ][Action] Learn Metal Forging
-You know the theory of how to forge metal. You want to take this to the point that you can create a metal/wood fusion sword of some stripe - and have it actually work well, at that.
-Expected benefits are mostly trade with outsiders (becoming a purveyor of fine enchanted weapons) and equipping your Creatures with better weaponry.
-0 of 25 successes

Survival:
[ ][Action] Store Resources Against Future Need
-This has a +20% bonus from Technology: Farming.
-This has a one-time +10% bonus from having had exactly 42 Resources Stored last turn.
-42 stored; this will function as a spare HP pool against anything that gets through your Defense, and may be useful for other things

[ ][Action] Dam the Creek
-14 of 10/20/30/40 successes
-10 successes per level; 4 levels; each gives +5% Growth to offset drought penalties for the first turn of any drought; we expect this to become less effective as the Magnitude of the Forest grows (Magnitude 3 has no change; Magnitude 4 will reduce the effectiveness somewhat; further Magnitudes unknown).

[ ][Action] Unusual Lumber
-Required: At least 2 dice (or 1 auto-success) per turn on turns 12 through 15. This is a commitment to Newton Village.
-If you've got any unusual lumber to sell - dying branches, that sort of thing - they'd be more than willing to try taking that to market…
-On turn 16 I roll to see if someone finds some interesting properties to your planks. Likely nothing important, but who knows; modest chance of having this as a recurring source of favors.

[ ][Action] Improve Dangerous Terrain
-It's always possible to make the Forest more dangerous to invaders, especially after we had an actual invader!
-Might also be worth making it difficult for hostile species? Plants and such?
-Unknown difficulty.
-3 successes banked.

[ ][Action] Mining
-Dig up some Linestone for Newton Village. They owe us a Favor for every 5 successes.
-3 of 5 successes and 0 Favors banked.

Defense:
[ ][Action] Raise the Shield
-Use magic to defend the Forest. Effectiveness is generally fairly high, but depends on the exact nature of the threat. (Not effective against a plague of locusts or similar - that's a Survival roll.) Like most defenses, this does little to nothing if you are not attacked.
-Gains 3 automatic successes from Shield Trees, if at least 1 Player-Tree votes for this action. Gains +30% to all successes (+10% per Shield Tree).

[ ][Action] Stockpile Thorns
-Successes stockpile up to 10 times the Magnitude of the Forest. These will automatically damage hostile intruders that enter the Forest.
-10 of 20 stockpiled.

Growth:
Note: Winter is here, and the cold and lack of sunlight impede Growth at -50%. Your Lens Trees grant you +20% to Growth.

[ ][Action] Grow the Forest
-This has a +25% bonus from Analyze Creek and Tree Placement until we reach Magnitude 3.
-25.9 of 50 successes to Magnitude 3

[ ][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.
-This has a +25% bonus (and any Drought penalties halved) from Shore up Creek Banks until we have 12 Special Trees total (ignoring Mining and Speaker Trees).
-7.5 of 10 successes banked on Collector Tree.

[ ][Action] Widen the Cave Entrance
-Grow Roots to widen and shore up the Cave Entrance, so you can get more than just Squirrels and Moles down there.
-Maybe you'll even figure out what's up with the fading connection as your creatures delve downwards.
-Taking place underground, this ignores the winter growth mallus!
-1 of 15 successes

Offense:
[ ][Action] Release Annoying Pollen
-Any particular target? It's fairly indiscriminate, but between moving the wind yourself and targeting the Intent at one target, you could probably make it semi-selective.
-Not a very powerful attack against most foes. Unlikely to do more than annoy Humans/Elves, for example.
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Shoot Spikes
-At what?
-This is limited to roughly 25 yards of range, at the absolute max. But it can reach outside the bounds of the Forest.
-A decent attack; 50/50 shot of damaging a target typically. Designed for taking down animals, two-legs, monsters, and the like. Less effective against plants, but still works to a point.
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Focused Light Attack
-At what?
-This is limited to roughly 150 yards of range (50 * (1 + minimum(count(Lens Trees), count(Clever Trees)))), but can manage a bit further with steadily worsening effectiveness.
-Any sun or light bonus or mallus will apply to this Attack. Does not currently function at night.
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

Focus

Choose any two actions from the above for the Forest to focus on. These are voted upon by the entire group, and are in addition to the individual actions taken by each member.

[ ][Focus] Action Name
[ ][Focus] Action Name x2

These Actions will receive a number of automatic successes equal to the Magnitude of the Forest (currently 2) and any bonuses from other sources.

Squirrel Actions

Choose what to ask Arthur Scrat to do.
[ ][Squirrel] Explore your Forest
[ ][Squirrel] Lead the squirrel watch over your Forest
[ ][Squirrel] Lead a search-party in (write-in Direction)
[ ][Squirrel] Lead a search-party along the (east OR north OR south) path
[ ][Squirrel] Focus Tree efforts on (write-in Wildlife Type)
[ ][Squirrel] Write-in

Deer Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add 4 successes to categories of his choice (typically Growth, but others may apply; things that are about to finish will be prioritized), UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Deer, by all means:
[ ][Deer] Explore the Plains
[ ][Deer] Explore the Path further South
[ ][Deer] Assist with <Action Name>
[ ][Deer] Lead a search-party in (write-in Direction)
[ ][Deer] Train for War
[ ][Deer] Write-in

Mole Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add +25% bonus to whichever of Growth or Survival will better benefit, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Moles, by all means:
[ ][Moles] Build Tunnels (from where? To where?)
[ ][Moles] Widen the Cave Entrance (8 dice)
[ ][Moles] Mining for Linestone (8 dice)
[ ][Moles] Write-in

Interlude

After Turn 16, the end of one complete year, there will be an Interlude. You have a choice of Interludes. You have no information on which Interlude is which - aside from the titles, which are enough to make a few guesses but not many at this point. Choices:
[ ][Interlude] The Archer
[ ][Interlude] The Star
[ ][Interlude] The Hunter
[ ][Interlude] The Refugee

Summary

Your Votes should look like the following:

[ ][Action] Action
[ ][Focus] Action
[ ][Focus] Action x2
[ ][Squirrel] Squirrel action
[ ][Deer] Deer action (very optional)
[ ][Moles] Mole action (very optional)
[ ][Interlude] The Archer or The Star or The Hunter or The Refugee

Newcomers should add one of the following:

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

This vote will always be open.