TreeQuest: Magitech (Riot Quest)

Turn 28 Results

It wasn't a tornado, but another massive hailstorm did impact the Forest. However, the Forest easily warded the Hail off - and noticed the approaching storm early enough to move a Shield Tree next to Newton Village's crops, ensuring they would take no damage from this. (27 damage but Shield counts double; Shield 44.82 effective successes; more than 3x required threshold - negates Forest+Newton damage completely.)

As for Newton Village's crops - they've made the best of the weather to recover as much as they can; they shouldn't need help this winter, though it'll be a close-run thing. The Irn Refugees have requested and received permission to stay the winter here; they've spent the turn ranging far and wide and - with some assistance from your Creatures - been able to forage a good cache of food. It won't be enough to see them through the winter, but assuming they can pick nice days to forage a bit more (or even hunt/trap a bit), they should be fine with modest assistance (best guess: 5 Resources per turn).

About half of the Refugees are thinking they'll move on come spring; about half want to stay as local as you'll let them. With help from the Forest, they've also finished not only their own shelters - but also shelters for any of your Creatures that requested such (+10.4ish base successes) (Creature Resource requests reduced). Newton Village can shelter a few of them in a pinch - but as they render this largely unnecessary, with a variety of houses, rough-built but sturdy and warm, many half-grown by your Forest. The Defender Ent was, furthermore, able to help them easily build a large sheltered meeting place (half-underground and mostly-covered; it's particularly likely to be useful in snowstorms or similar).

Other than that single massive hailstorm, however, the turn's weather couldn't be nicer - the perfect mix of rain and shine, temperatures nearly perfect for growth. Deciduous Trees kept their leaves slightly longer than normal, this year, all the Creatures were happy, the whole world seemed to glow this turn, and everything went abnormally well (+10%) thanks to the absolutely lovely weather. Towards the turn's end, however, some sixth sense had the Creatures frantically seek holes to hunker down in - far beyond their normal wintering instincts, which were already starting to kick in as this fall ended.

Even other Creatures not Connected to the Forest seem to have noticed. And the Forest, too, can feel something. A touch of Malice on the wind. Distant, yet not nearly distant enough for anyone's liking. Approaching. From the east…

…You think this has happened before. But it was weaker then - or, maybe, the Forest was smaller. Sleepier. Less Magical. Less attuned. Less affected…

---

One Tree approached Old Man Materson with a request and suggestion: "Old Man Matherson-" it checked itself, and added in a tone of playfully blatantly lying "(I didn't get your name wrong, that was on purpose! A test! Yes. A test to see if you might prefer an extra 'h' in your name)."

With his stern craggy old face and slowly-whitening gray beard and sparse hair, Materson looked formidable. Annoyed. Imposing. He even felt stern, over the Connection. Only the slightest suppressed chuckle, deep in his chest, and the twinkle in his eye gave him away. "Go on."

"Would you be willing to Connect with the Forest? When the village was attacked, we were able to - with effort and attention - send you power near the end and that allowed you to use magic more freely to keep people alive. But a better Connection should allow you to take power directly as you need, the next time the Portal Using Malice Enemy Person attacks. Or when things kick off with the Woo Clan. (Also also, we might be able to understand your lessons more quickly, which would be cool because the sooner the Forest learns all these different important things, the sooner I fly through space really really quickly and walk on alien planets.)"

At the tail end of that request to Materson, you caught a half-joking thought of 'they grow up so fast…' from his Mind.

"Let me think about it. Give me a day, maybe two," he replied.

And think he did. You saw him - via the Sensing Trees, but with him radiating 'yes you'll see this; that's fine' to any slight Connection attempt - taking out a well-crafted Magic-lined possibly-Ancient-Tech(?) box from under a massive boulder.

He pulled it into his house and slowly looked through it. Letters. A sprig of dried flowers. A heart-shaped locket. A metal plate with "Fear/Despair is the Enemy; do not let it defeat you" scratched into it, that he held up and regarded for a long moment, before putting it aside. A small metal hopper that echoed with a long-broken curse. He ultimately pulled out a large dagger (or possibly a ridiculously-short sword).

He muttered, "This is a knife," and a few other things that weren't quite audible.

Eventually, he sighed, put the knife away, and slowly thumbed through the letters, carefully reading several. When the Forest went to read them, he made a batting-away motion, and the Forest let him keep that secret, for now at least.

Eventually, long after midnight - flame substituting for natural light - he packed everything away, got creakily to his feet, and put the box (with another impressive act of Magic) back on top of it.

Then he went to bed and slept like a log.

Around midafternoon, the next day, he walked up to the Tree that had originally contacted him, and looked at it contemplatively until it finally asked, "Have you decided?"

"Hmm. Potentially. I'll need you to promise you will not go rooting through my head willy-nilly. Promise. Like your life depends on it, promise." When asked a bit further, he gave a reason: "There's things - that are dangerous to remember. I don't think I've met many, but-" and he shook his head.

After a minor bit of discussion, the Forest gladly accepted this proviso, and attempted to add him as - more-or-less - a third Speaker.

It took considerably more effort than the last two. Connecting with someone that deeply wasn't easy, apparently - for all that the Forest had some control, they only half-understood the process.

Indeed, properly building that Connection took steady work, day in and day out, for the rest of the turn. But, by the turn's end, Old Man Materson was just as capable of pulling from the Forest's stores of energy as Ben and Betty Grimm or Arthur Scrat.

The same Tree asked him about Earth Magic, and he replied, "Not my greatest specialty, but I know a thing or two." (Project difficulty reduced by 8.)

Also, when asked about this ominous weather, he sniffed the wind, tilted his head, wrinkled his nose, and sneezed once. A moment later, a scowl crossed his face. "Malice Storm," he spat. "I might be wrong, but - I've always thought that, where Rain-storms water the Trees, Malice-storms water the Monsters."

One Tree wondered if he would be interested in romance again - if the Woo Clan were dealt with first, presumably. He replied, "I've considered that a time or twelve. I'm getting pretty far on in years, to be fair - I had more energy back when I was a hundred, you know. Yeah, had my 126th birthday last spring. Eternity in my bones, you know? Anyway, I'm fairly 'set in my ways.' Heh: I swore as a kid that it'd never happen to me. I'm a right sight older than most, but it finally has happened. …

"…If. If, mind you. If the Woo Clan were defeated. … I'd ask 'Delle if she were interested. She's two-thirds my age, but she knows that, and 't doesn't stop her from bossin' me around every now and then. Yeah. If 'twere anyone I know now, 'twould have to be her."

He ruminated for a long minute, then said, "A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to marry - and a time to not. A time to weep and a time to dance. A time for everything under the sun."

After another long moment of thought, he added, "One other thing - if you're teaching the Grimm kids. There's a time to teach, and a time to not. There's a time to show a kid the ropes, or correct them. But there's a time to let them try somethin' and fail. 'Cause it'll remind them that failure ain't the worst.

"Thinkin' failure's the worst. That's worse than just bein' dumb. That's…" he shook his head. "That means you'll never really try."

---

The Forest put some effort into Growing the first Defender Ent, and it fully lived up to expectations! It didn't have a lot of mental-attacks to deal with, but it was rather helpful with the turn's happenings nonetheless…

Aside from an amply-sufficient Shield, the Forest raised the Empty Veil and let the rest of the effort (4.61 successes) strengthen the Void Forest defenses. Some direct effort also made progress at that task, assisted by the Lesser Wraith. The Wraith had to admit the Void confused it, but nonetheless its moderately alien mentality gave the Forest a few insights on approaching the Void.

While the Void was calm, this turn, the normal world was not, and it was well that you had your Shields and Empty Veil as strong as they were. For a massive pack of Dire Wolves charged past, from the west to the east, and many bounced off your Shields.

They made a brief effort to overwhelm your Shields, but rapidly gave it up as a bad job and kept heading east. You noticed them long beforehand - they might be very weak Monsters, but Monsters they were, and they couldn't hide their Energy from you - and had ample time to get all your Creatures and other allies to safety, and ensure Newton Village would be Shielded. A few Dire Wolves got sucked in by the Shadow-Spinners, and a few more got picked off by Newton Village or the Irn-ites, but the vast majority just kept charging past you.

A handful of Nevermore also flew past, along the same route - and those seemed inclined to harass your Corvids (their non-Monstrous cousins) in passing. After the Sword Tree and Defender Ent managed to kill a half-dozen, they started watching the Forest and stalking any of your Creatures that they found vulnerable. Ultimately, a careful sniping war of Lasers, combined with more hunting (Sword Tree, Defender Ent, various Connected Two-Legs) convinced them that this was a losing battle, and they also flew off. (-2 Resources firing Lasers)

On the upside, the Forest is even more of Nature than your Connected Two-Legs: Waste not, want not. (+10 Resources from slain enemies)

You've also learned a bit about Monster Energy from the experience. (+5 effective successes)

Finally, Steve Robertson (the former Lumburglar) wound up venturing out to try to slay several of these monsters, armed with a sword and his wits. He was accompanied by Avo the Mole, who had to heal him repeatedly. Sadly, this had no visible results. After days of this, he went to the Tree-based shelter where he's currently staying, and started ranting at himself: "Useless. Useless. USELESS!"

Eventually Avo - and a hint of the Forest's mental powers - managed to nudge him into talking, and it turned out he'd been nicknamed 'useless' as a boy. A title he'd outgrown, but any terrifying situation would see him reacting in that pattern.

The Forest wasn't exactly experienced at therapy, but - well, just getting him to the point he understood himself helped. "Know yourself," huh?

One thing the Forest had noticed earlier, was his desire to be like Sam the Legendary Swordsman (either of them - apparently there were two). That was why he picked a sword as his weapon of choice. That was why he'd put so much thought into odd battle scenarios, that he could easily assist a bunch of random Forest Creatures in setting up a defense.

As Avo stared into Steve Robertson's eyes, the little mole mentally shouted at the Forest: 'do it!'

The Forest hesitated… and took a risk, and gently touched the former-Lumburglar's mind. Trying to stay inconspicuous (at which they mostly succeeded), they nonetheless pushed everything they knew of Swordsmanship and Magic, gently at him, along with a determination to, as Materson had said, "try."

And Steve grabbed his sword, walked out the door, and checked to make sure he was alone. He breathed, centered himself, and swung-

Nothing extraordinary happened.

He sighed, struggled with despair for an instant, and shook his head grimly. He swung again. And again.

Slowly, he started copying moves from various renditions of famous battles - things he'd memorized over the years. Slowly, his sword got faster, and faster - until it was too fast to control, surely - yet it was still under his control.

As the first stars peeked out, into the darkening sky, he sighed - realizing nothing of his accomplishment, only that he was unexpectedly exhausted - and went inside to bed.

The next morning, he sat and asked Avo, "Do you know anything about becoming a Magic Swordsman?"

Avo blinked up at him.

"Well, I guess I'd better hunt a few more monsters, if you'll keep healing me."

Avo nodded.

And, to his utter shock, the fight was easy. Exhausting, yes - the energy of Magic has to come from somewhere, after all - but easy. Every attack was slow. His sword bit far deeper than it should have ever been able to.

At the day's end, hardly having needed any healing at all, he looked at Avo and asked, "So you gave me the Magic?" Shake-head no. "I already had the Magic?" Nod-head yes.

A long pause, then he made sure the door was shut tight before abandoning himself to a half-laugh and half-cry, on and off, for the rest of the evening.

By the turn's end, he'd also learned the basics of Life Magic from Avo, and didn't truly need a healing Mole anymore.

(That's not to say he didn't keep feeding Avo snacks periodically. Not at all!)

(5 Resources wound up being spent Healing him, and 2 on feeding him (he was foraging the majority of his own food, but not all).)

---

The Talanburg negotiations were going well, with Betty Grimm and Granny Miller continuing their canny negotiating strategies - until a dozen threats (and promised bribes) were sent to a dozen of the highest-ranking and most respected individuals in Talanburg. Each promising great reward if they sabotaged negotiations, and death if they did not. … Well, eight of them did; four were incendiary messages about the dangers of the "Devouring Forest."

The notes were delivered over the course of two nights, early in the Turn. The Forest noticed the second such threat being delivered, and was soon able to make out the pattern. This led to the Forest getting a good look at Woo Clan pawns and their anti-Telepathy defense - seven times in a row.

Two of the eight that received threats-and-bribes, quietly brought them to Mayor Sharp the next day. He actually talked them into continuing negotiations - he was passionate about his home, and had the sort of stubborn integrity that won't back down in the face of an enemy's anger.

Additionally, one of the four that received an incendiary message raised an eyebrow, ran it by a few close friends, and ultimately discarded it as nonsense (barring a point or two that might possibly be true - or might prove useful in negotiations).

However, nine prominent members of Talanburg turned strongly against negotiations with the Forest. Two of those - one threat/bribe and one incendiary - ran the local newspaper. The streets were promptly flooded with anti-Forest rhetoric.

But the Forest had already won; the Woo Clan operatives just didn't know it.

You see - the first time you watched a deep-cover operative wake up, you got a very good idea of what they did. They used Magic to Separate an operative's memories of agreeing to work for the Woo, from the rest of their Mind and thoughts. There was no active Magic for the Forest to detect - except at the moments of transition, remembering and forgetting.

You, the Forest, got a good idea what was going on, the first time you saw it take effect. The second time, you had a good enough idea to easily reverse-engineer it. The fifth, you became able to trigger it (and reverse it) at will, with a slight effort of Connection. And you got to watch the whole process seven times in a row.

Careful investigation gave you a list of eight individuals in Talanburg that were working for the Woo Clan, along with their contacts out of town. Five - including the Farmer you saw previously - were involved with sending the various messages this turn.

The Forest knows its foe. The only question is: What to do now?

Please vote Priority style.

[ ][Talanburg] Full disclosure
-You think you have enough proof to convince the people of Talanburg. If you're right - great! Perfect win! If not… well, you'll probably have to walk away from the town for a half-year or so.
[ ][Talanburg] Take over the spynet
-Then manipulate matters yourself. Near-guaranteed to get you a good treaty. Near-guaranteed to leave certain individuals concerned about you.
[ ][Talanburg] Walk away
-Do you want to ensure nobody knows just how deeply you've broken the spynet? This is the option for you.
[ ][Talanburg] Stall for perfect proof
-Spend another turn fishing for the best possible proof - something that will give rhetoric time to set in, but also gives you a near-certainty of proving your case to the people of Talanburg. Any who are willing to listen to logic, at least.
[ ][Talanburg] Write-in

Also, if we pick "Walk away" and move to take out the greater spynet, do we want to dedicate Focus Actions towards that? (This override will disengage during extreme circumstances, particularly battles.)
[ ][Spynet Focus] 0
[ ][Spynet Focus] 1
[ ][Spynet Focus] 2
[ ][Spynet Focus] 3
[ ][Spynet Focus] 4

The Wolves and Dire bat took a deep interest in the whole matter, and were instrumental in tracking the trail of one Operative over to Andrewsburg. The Forest will need to take a bit of further effort to unearth the full Woo Clan spy network there, but not much at this point - moving a Tree into range will probably be a quarter of the overall effort.

The Forest's combined deep study of one Farmer, ensured the Forest should easily be able to coopt any users of this particularly form of anti-telepathy with minimal difficulty - whether by making it nigh-impossible for them to recover their memories, assuming control directly, waking them up at will, or otherwise messing with their particular Mind-Magic.

---

Ben and Betty have used the Forest's Telepathy to stay in touch - and they were planning to get good enough at Fire and Water (respectively) to start working on Fire/Water Negacion. Alas: Only Betty made the necessary progress. Ben actually burned his left hand grievously, playing a bit too much with Fire - and while he was healed half an hour later, it took him about two weeks to get over the mental impact.

Further, Ben was needed for dozens of tasks around Newton Village as everyone handled the Monsters, helped the Refugees, prepared for winter, and finally prepared for a Malice Storm. Plus, of course, his theorizing on the Well-Ordered Mind… Well, it's no surprise he made minimal progress this turn. (Better luck next turn.)

---

You are pleased to say that Marta Yarrow does not - as far as you can detect, and you've (once again) scanned quite closely - have anything like the Woo Clan Operatives' anti-telepathy memory-suppression.

On that note, as the turn dragged on, Newton Village started to become concerned about Mrs. Yuadore - as she was expected to go into labor just after the turn's start. The Forest was a bit worried, too - though the Sensing Trees could scan her and see the still-healthy baby in her womb, which somewhat reassured everyone.

(Really. These "Mammals" have a very strange seed- and seedling-equivalent. Very impractical in several senses. Good for being able to teach them things, though, and help them get established in life - and their whole setup does that without Magic! Very practical in that sense, obviously.)

Ultimately, everyone was reassured late in the turn when Mrs. Yuadore did finally go into labor - only for the labor to drag on, far longer than it should have.

Between Marta Yarrow, Old Man Materson, the Forest, and several of the Forest's Creatures, you weren't going to let her or her baby die. And that was, indeed, exactly what was necessary, as her not-yet-born son had grown too large to easily be born.

Marta Yarrow - and Mrs. Charlotte Miller, for that matter - both knew the theory for something called a "Cesarean Section," but neither had performed one. As it so happens, however, a massive amount of brainstorming, the Forest's supernatural Senses, and several different users of Life could substitute for surgical skill in a pinch. Barely. But it was enough.

The Village and Forest alike, breathed a sigh of relief when the whole makeshift operation was over. Marta also was observed muttering about options for which Potions to make for the next time she was asked to help.

On a side-note, the Forest was intrigued by how the newly-named "Rumil" (after a legendary Elven Hero who was said to have invented both writing and mathematics; the Yuadore parents had planned to name a daughter "Rachel," after the sole surviving Elven Seer) reacted to getting to see visible light for the first time - one part terror, one part wonder-and-awe… and after a bit of time to recover, a reflexive tendency to search for his mom and dad's faces.

By the turn's end, Mrs. Yuadore finally recovered enough to ask whether it would be safe for her to have a fourth baby. (She had been an only child, and wanted at least five.) Marta Yarrow stared at her for a moment - a mixture of admiration and disbelief running across her face - before shaking her head and replying, "The healing went well and you're recovering well. No reason why not."

(Net: -7 Resources.)

One Tree ensured that everyone was well-fed throughout - and helped significantly with the celebratory feast afterwards. As this was the end of the Harvest, nobody would have gone hungry, regardless, but the Tree made sure that food was plentiful and delicious. This was much appreciated! Though it led to Ben Grimm and Henry Miller begging for a new supply of earthworm-flavored-apples, so they could reenact their old contest - this time, they tied.

Another Tree ensured that Nuts of all kinds were in plentiful supply - though the majority of that Tree's work was kept and carefully stored by the Forest (or occasionally the Squirrels).

During this celebratory feast, a third Tree tried to arrange for Marta Yarrow to meet Zach, Alex, and Peter - the three individuals from Irn who seem like plausible romantic pairings for her. Sadly, Granny Miller was in Talanburg and unable to assist much. And things went… Well, even now, the Forest hasn't quite figured out what went wrong! Zach heard about Marta and tried to befriend her - but tried to befriend her too quickly, you think? And she was still mentally exhausted? Alex managed to insult her unintentionally, and Peter saw enough of "everything that had just happened" and decided to outright avoid her - which she noticed and stomped off in a rage.

In the middle of this, the proto-Music-Tree tried to play a love-song, but instead played "nails on a chalkboard, with rhythmic variation, in eight-part harmony."

…Is this what Two-Legs call a "Romantic Comedy"?

---

The Ancient Tall Communications Tree had unusual difficulty contacting the Trees that were away from the Forest. Perhaps the oncoming storm is to blame? The growing pair of Relay Trees did what they could, but the result was nothing more than a handful of messages - barely enough to communicate the basic plans (and results) for the turn. Still, it was nice to Connect, even if only barely.

The Unpredictable Tree made it to Citadel Taur, and had a trigger-happy guard give him an impromptu lesson in 'Fletching, And Why Mundane Arrows Are Minimally Effective On Trees.' A few brief conversations later, and he got a talk with the local Adventurer's Guild. They, for their part, weren't sure how to handle a Tree, but were glad to give directions - by road - to the Uzu. (They might figure out what to do by next time - or they might not; they danced around giving their word when asked.) The Uzu - who are one very large extended family plus all relatives plus anybody else who wants to join and makes themselves useful - mostly live in and around the Silent Pool, a vast lake a few days' travel to the southeast of Citadel Taur.

The Unpredictable Tree made it there, with minimal effort, but just as the buildings of Silent Pool Town were visible in the distance, was stopped on the path.

"Halt! Who - and what! - goes there?" a guard asked.

"Greetings, travelers!" said the Unpredictable Tree. "I am the wandering adventurer Ulmus Tamarisk, from distant lands. Perhaps you've heard of me? I travel the world, righting wrongs and helping those in need. Do any of you need any help? Or know of anyone nearby who does? Perhaps a princess kidnapped by vampires, or a dark wizard oppressing the land with his fell magics? Ancient evil artifacts that need to be disposed of? Deadly monsters running amok?"

The guard looked baffled, but walked into a small guard-shack by the roadside and struck a loud gong, four times, with a specific tempo. Then he walked back out and said, "Someone'll be here shortly. Don't move forward on the path until you're specifically invited unless you want to die - or be humiliated if you're lucky. Don't leave the path unless you want your death to be memorable. The Uzu Family takes no responsibility for accidental activations of traps, current or historical, and have a specific dispensation from the League to 'freely practice our trapmaking craft' within ten miles of our home with no permitted outside interference. You wait time…" Here, he squinted off into the distance. "…Should be here in about half an hour, maybe an hour and change if you're unlucky. Not less than ten minutes, or I'd see them already."

The Unpredictable Tree started asking questions, and got more answers here than at Citadel Taur. The Silent Pool was originally settled three centuries ago, by the extended family of one paranoid young trap-maker. The family had been fleeing one of those rare Vampire plots that the Last Star - a fixture of the world for nearly four centuries by that time - hadn't managed to shoot down yet. They found this quiet, silent pool, whose original name had been lost to history, and decided they'd fled far enough. No less than five Vampires met their end on the family's traps in the time since (though the guard wouldn't give an estimate on the number of 'left the path; suicide by idiocy' cases - but he did insist that his family always kept the sillest and least-deadly traps on the outskirts, to deter the merely-foolish).

The Tree also learned that copper, silver, and (for the rich) gold coins were standard around here - and "never accept any coins, without getting it checked first, unless they were minted by the official Shining Concord Mint, the First or Third or Eighth Larongo Banks, or maybe some of the older Phaeron coins - but turn down flat anything without reeding, because it's almost certainly been clipped and you're not getting your money's worth." A further question reveals that there have been sixteen major Larongo Banks last the guard checked, and a bunch of minor ones, and only that handful have coins that nobody's worked out how to counterfeit yet.

Eventually, the Unpredictable Tree was escorted into their town, and found that "Silent Pool" was no longer remotely accurate - with delighted shrieks echoing from one side to the other, as a large group of small children honed their running abilities with a massive game of tag. And that's on top of the normal bustle of a busy small town, with plenty of livestock - and, notably, occasional explosions from a few buildings far off to one side.

The Unpredictable Tree got the chance to meet their "Council of Elders" - which notably included two people in their upper twenties - and was eventually asked to do a few tasks.

First, they wanted to build a few new buildings, and wondered if a walking Tree could lift beams and stones better than most. "Yes, absolutely." The work wasn't glamorous, but it went by quickly enough, and gave the Uzu and the Unpredictable Tree the chance to get to know each other. Further, the Unpredictable Tree got an introduction to the local Gunpowder experts - who did all their work in that bunch of buildings offset from the rest of the town.

The next task - barely a task - involved relocating several Anthills, and absorbing one into the colony that the Unpredictable Tree already carried.

The task after was much more impressive. The Unpredictable Tree actually needed weeks to recuperate after taking down a wraith-like something, that seemed to be almost Void-like, and didn't seem to initially register the Unpredictable Tree at all! It was hunting travelers a few days' journey away, and had killed four and five guards that tried to apprehend or defeat it. Fortunately, the Unpredictable Tree wasn't easily killed by a few stab wounds - dealt by the thing's hands, completely bypassing any sort of Armor or even a weak Shield the old Unpredictable tried throwing up. Equally fortunately, it proved vulnerable - after half-a-dozen different attempts, including an attempted Connection that only returned maddened desire to "get inside" - to charging an Ant colony with Magic and asking them to coordinate to drive it off. This distracted it, but never for long - but it wound up tangible at the wrong moment and the Unpredictable Tree managed to flatten it.

"What was it?" the Tree asked upon returning.

"We have no name for it - and maybe it is truly Nameless, now if it wasn't before," was the only answer they had. "But things like that… they tend to damage the world if you're not careful."

"…If they're not careful, maybe?" pondered the Unpredictable Tree.

Only a shrug was given in reply.

The Unpredictable Tree - and only the Unpredictable Tree - may now choose one of the following:
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Fast Travel Book
-Ask for instruction on any known method of Fast-Travel. They will recommend a book which will take (roughly) a half-turn for the Tree to access, and additional funds to fully copy, though there might be a quest along the way (to save time and add money).
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Explosives Training
-Upgrade the bonus to both Gunpowder actions to be multiplicative with all other modifiers, and gain an (additive) +50% bonus to building larger rockets.
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Trapping Training
-A true Uzu specialty! Unlocks a 10-point Research-or-Growth-or-Survival Action to multiply effectiveness of Thorns by x2. Further upgrades will be possible.
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Save it for later
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Write-in

(Author's Note: Also, Phigment, please also tell me three or four items that you'd want to purchase first, so I can easily handle that as well. …Technically, you could also try investing or trading money, though without the full Mind of the Forest behind you, you would be "slightly luckier, and no smarter, than average.")

(Author's Note, ctd: I should be able to write about 3 paragraphs - two for adventure and one for rewards - for future Unpredictable Adventuring. Good thinking, Phigment! I wrote a bit extra to set up the Uzu, this time, but that shouldn't be as necessary in the future. I think I also made this turn a bit more lucrative than it should have been, though not that much.)

Meanwhile, the Unpredictable Tree's ploy to lure away the League delegation (Taur and allies) had failed. The Mad Science Tree showed up partway through the turn, found a location close to the Ant Colony that would let it pretend to have "always been there," and got down to brass tacks with Ant Science!

The Mad Science Tree wished for a Sensing Tree - because it was almost certain it felt an as-yet-unidentified energy signature on the edge of its senses. It was… almost familiar?

But, otherwise, the turn was highly productive. While the Tree was ultimately unable to keep a Connection with the Ants - they were completely willing and easy enough to Connect to, but their Hive-Mind had an intense reflexive hostile reaction to touching a Mind that was different from their own - they were apologetic for the minor damage, and the other discussions and experiments were far more effective.

Both sides initially prioritized metaphorical low-hanging fruit, and the Forest's Ants were able to teach the Colony Ants a few basic Magics that they had (until now) lacked. The Mad Science Tree, for its part, learned a ton about Earth (for a major bonus to Earth Magic) and a bit about the gathering of Resources. The Tree also met (well, got a chance to see) the locals that the Ants consider their friends - some were distant descendants of the Fairy that Blessed the Ants.

On the verge of the turn's end, the Communications Tree finally got a good enough Connection to at least share all the gained knowledge on Resource-gathering techniques.

And, around the same time, the Unpredictable Tree was warned about the Malice Storm - which it already felt brewing, as did the Uzu - and told to be careful.

---

The Forest blitzed its way through the Well-Ordered Mind project, and finished it in a single turn. The Forest invested in building an actual Mindscape - which has proven capable of hindering (though not stopping) the Illusionary power of the Shadow-Spinners. The Forest's Mindscape is - currently - a vast warren, scaled-up from the memories of the many Creatures, with a massive Light hanging in each cavern. Trees stay in the different imaginary Caverns, and can easily shift memories around between Caverns and smaller nooks.

The current form of the Mindscape seems decently effective - experiments have proven it far better than the Forest just imagining itself directly. Further, it seems to leverage the "separate yet individual" nature of the Forest acceptably well. But it's marginally counterintuitive to the Forest, and far from impossible to bypass, shortcut, or generally "ignore the rules of."

As part of the process, the Forest spent a lot of time meditating - a Forest specialty - and coming to terms with the many many events and physical and emotional transitions of the last two years.

Additionally, the Forest practiced having one Tree think, and a second Tree watch it think. This can, if used carefully, bypass many Illusion and Mind-Affecting techniques. The Forest has it standard for a handful of Trees to practice at all times, which will hopefully cut down further on the effectiveness of Illusions.

All things considered, the Forest should be able to think a bit more clearly now. (+5% to Research. 19.06 overflow to Salamandastron)

Two Trees seeking to start a Fire/Life Negacion, one seeking to start a Life/Death Negacion, and one researching Natural Magic, all made minimal progress at their goals - but came up with various ideas that were helpful to the Salamandastron project. (Cumulative: +7 base successes.)

The Forest made amazing progress at Salamandastron! On the downside, the full Salamandastron project is clearly larger and more difficult than you'd feared. On the upside, the Lesser Fire Salamander is now able to handle the winter months gracefully (as long as it isn't snowing/etc.), and your other Creatures are noticeably more cold-resistant than they had been. Your Creatures should need yet-fewer Resources this winter. In particular, nearly the entirety of the Beavers and the Bees have learned Ice Magic to at least the Novice level - and several of each have learned Competent for good measure.

The Lesser Fire Salamander has achieved Dabbling Ice/Fire Negacion, and it's now just a matter of practice for it to gain Competency at Ice/Fire Negacion. Lots, and lots, and lots of practice. That said, it's spent several hours outside on a particularly cold night, and it says it's ready to endure the winter and the Forest doesn't need to assist further (aside from being present to give pointers). Of course, it would hardly turn down more help if you want to…

One additional bit of good news: between watching the Creatures learn Ice, and noticing and Incorporating a bit of Frost-Fern that Marta Yarrow had, finishing Salamandastron should also increase Forest's Ice Magic to Journeyman.

The Forest is almost halfway done with learning Fire/Water Negacion. The Forest has been able to puzzle out the full effect list, as this is the Forest's third Negacion, and second involving Fire. Fire Resistance will double, Ice Resistance will slightly increase, Water Resistance will reach 4x, Fire attacks will ignore Water penalties and be even harder to put out, "Shaping the Fire Within" bonus increases to +35% (from +25%), an immediate major bonus towards learning Vapor/Steam Magic, upgrades to the Fire Within attack, and Drowning resistance for your Creatures.

The Forest made progress - but reached no critical milestones - on Incorporated Growth (started this turn), Research Advanced Movement (same), Magical Construct Analysis (just over a quarter done), Veritas (same), Incorporating Sporing Mushrooms (a hair over halfway done), and Monster Energy (more than 3/4ths of the way to starting to work with the Energy).

(As a side-note, one of the Trees working on Veritas had fallen asleep meditating many months ago, and the Forest was glad to have it back!)

The Forest attempted - but through sheer bad luck made no progress at - Designing Magic Weapons and Armor and Studying Illusions.

As usual, the Forest gathered large amounts of Resources - far more than expenditures - and continued to feed the Bees. Said Bees are, after learning Ice Magic, expected to remain active (if, perhaps, slightly reduced in effectiveness) throughout the winter! (Also, there is now a rule for Bee bonus per Feed The Swarm progress.)

The Elder Weather Tree has no problem at all manipulating the weather further, for the good of the Forest (and friends). The weather this turn was ridiculously easy to work with, but that didn't stop the Tree from optimizing it as far as possible. This further assisted Newton Village's (frantic) crop recovery. (Max Rain and Shine activated. +30% to Growth.)

The Bees saw only one Action that was on the verge of completion - and it hadn't been started yet, having only just been unlocked earlier this turn. But they threw themselves into it with gusto anyway, and managed to fully design the Elder Defender Ent. It doubles all base base capabilities, and gains a bunch of detachable Roots that can burrow, bind any nearby enemies, and even perform decent impersonations of snakes (poison included, if desired). It also gains a limited light-warping capability allowing it access to Lasers (Forest bonuses apply only if nearby). Finally, it gains inbuilt Beehives and contributes +10% to the max Bee attack successes per turn and effectiveness. You will note, after all, that this Tree was designed by Bees… (Inbuilt weapons increased to: Spikes, Ice/Fire, Pollen, its own limbs, Roots, Light, Bees.)

The Forest upgraded its Mining Tree to Elder, with considerable room to spare, and already it's dug up multiple lots of Linestone. It also granted a small bonus to the Shelters action, and - additionally - it's prepared and ready for any fight to break out. Any enemy seeking to attack this one lone Tree is going to be unpleasantly surprised… (7.04 overflow to Relay Trees.)

With some effort, and some overflow from the Mining Tree work, the Forest grew 2 of the proposed 4 Relay Trees. It will take one turn for the first to find a good spot (-40% contact difficulty), and another turn for the second (-80% contact difficulty) - or, if the Forest builds more Relays, soon, they might all keep traveling towards the Ants so that the full Relay chain comes online as soon as possible…

One Tree planned to ask the Last Star several questions, but set things up so as to not actually go through with it. The Last Star didn't immediately answer.

A day or two later, however, as a different Tree struggled to comprehend the odd rhythmic sensation that the Sensing Trees are picking up (the roughly-but-not-exactly once-per-day pulse), that other Tree asked a slightly-rude question of the Last Star.

And the Star answered, but instead of sending the information to the Forest directly, they targeted one of the en-route Relay Trees: - .. -- . .-- .- ...- . / .. -. -. --- -.-. .-... .--. --- ... ... .. -... .... . .-. --- / ... - .-. .- .-- -... . .-. -... .-.. ..- . -... . .-. .-... .--. .. -. . .- .--. .--. / -.-. --- .-. .-. ..- .--. - .. --- -.

The four statements seem to be answering: rhythm source, Sara, Last Star's favorite fruits, and a note about the upcoming Nemesis attack (presumably, anti-Corruption protocols would be the ideal counter?).

(As a side-note, the GM does not guarantee that the info you're getting from the Last Star is perfectly accurate. The GM does guarantee that it's every bit as terse and summarized as it looks.)

The same Tree also tried to figure out what was up with the Forest's Sensing Trees. While it made little progress at the goal, it did make a bit of progress analyzing Monster Energy.

The Tree researching Rocketry seems to have adequate safety protocols for gunpowder testing, and has proven it through a dozen attempts. Progress beyond basic gunpowder fireworks has been minimal, so far - though, obviously, far more could be done with those.

Another Tree had great success carefully looking into Explosive Buds and Nuts (and modest success looking into Explosive Flowers), and ultimately sparked two new ideas for projects: One to get primitive firearms working (inspired by certain volumes - and one or two actual firearms - in Talanburg), and one to improve the Forest's defenses. Additionally, all the Thorns have been passively updated to explode upon impaling a genuine enemy - they're very weakly explosive, so this isn't a tremendous damage multiplier, but it's still quite the improvement.

If you want to use Gunpowder a lot though, you'll have to start looking into a stable supply of all the components…

One Tree, thinking way ahead, decided to skip past researching Truth and jump straight to a Truth/Lie Negacion. The idea is definitely sound, and the Tree came up with a bunch of ways to potentially implement it, so the project should be a simple matter of steady research now. Incidentally, little Newt Yuadore was a surprising help in studying Truth - he was at the stage where he had no verbal filter and would be painfully honest about what he thought. Ranging from "It's too cold" to "You look fat" to "Why is Mommy dying, Daddy?" (Thankfully, the answer to the last one was, "she isn't - if only barely.") With some compliments thrown in there - no sincere appreciation quite matches that of someone who doesn't understand flattery or politeness.

One Tree attempted to understand Sound. Luck was heavily against it, but it put in an extraordinary effort, and managed to acquire Dabbling Sound by sheer determination anyway. Another Magic for the Forest to Learn…

One Tree figured out how to greatly boost the Laser Beams' tendency to start Fires, by imbuing them with Fire Magic.

One attempt to investigate Severing Magic, and another to organize the Forest's data, only resulted in modest progress to Ending Magic. (Base successes: 1.5 from Severing and 0.5 from Organize.)

The Fungi Tree managed to get the Fungi to automatically grab Malachite along with their Linestone Mining - which is, thanks to the Elder Mining Tree, now automatic.

The Magical Biology Tree made significant progress (+4 successes base) on Magical Weapons and Armor. It hasn't figured out Living Armor designs yet - rather, all it managed was getting a good grip on "workable armor designs, with variable amounts of allowed flexing."

One Tree managed to find and devour another Boar, and thanks to said Tree's previous experience with Bone, was able to unlock the first glimmers of Bone Magic. It theoretically also gathered a few Resources, but those were spent between the hunt and battle and analysis.

The Deer, Beavers, and Bears helped you upgrade another Lens Tree up to Elder! It was finished late in the turn, and not able to help everything, this turn. But it should be fully active and ready to assist all Growth (and Survival) next Turn. The small amount of overflow went to Growing the Relay Trees.

---

Actions, Turn 29:

























Summary

Your Votes should look like the following:

[ ][Action] Action
[ ][Focus] Action
[ ][Focus] Action x2
[ ][Focus] Action x3
[ ][Focus] Action x4
[ ][AutoFocus] Automated Focus; vote by plan
[ ][Squirrel] Squirrel action
[ ][Deer] Deer action (very optional)
[ ][Moles] Mole action (very optional)
[ ][Beavers] Beaver action (very optional)
[ ][Bees] Bee action (very optional)
[ ][Ants] Ant action (very optional)
[ ][Wolves] Wolf action (very optional)
[ ][Corvids] Corvid action (very optional)
[ ][Bears] Bear action (very optional)
[ ][Dire Bat] Dire Bat action (very optional)
[ ][Lesser Wraith] Lesser Wraith option (very optional)
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Lesser Fire Salamander action (very optional)
[ ][Speaker] Speaker action (very optional)
[ ][Speaker] Speaker action (very optional) x2
[ ][Herbalist] Herbalist action (very optional)
[ ][Steve Robertson] Former-Lumburglar action (very optional)
[ ][Talanburg] Talanburg choice
[ ][Spynet Focus] Spynet Focus choice

Newcomers should add one of the following:

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

This vote will always be open.