[X][Tree] Heart Tree
[X][Action] Store Resources Against Future Need
I am a 1 Turn old Heart Tree
Edit: Really? fucking really I am 54 minutes late, Fuck
2 Root Trees working on Special: Focus on trying to grow different types of nuts for the squirrels. Hidden rolls apply.
Squirrel: Explore your Forest. Hidden rolls apply.
As spring wanes and summer draws nigh, Clever Tree research continues apace, with neither unexpected breakthroughs nor unexpected setbacks. Fitting, really, for a Tree that exemplifies quiet contemplation.
More water, nutrients, sugar, and so on are stored deep within the Trees of the Forest. No random damage is going to cause the Forest true problems, not if our Heart Trees have a say in it!
The first Shield Tree is almost halfway complete. You can feel the slight stirrings of Intent and Magic, as the Tree's Will to Protect starts to unfurl gently across the Forest. Not yet more effective than (say) Arthur Scrat trying to physically block a charging boar, but well on its way to being something amazing, something your Forest has never had before…
The first Collector Tree, by contrast, is all-but complete. Only the slightest bit of effort remains to bring it to full size and strength - and with summer's Strong Sunlight incoming, that's something the Tree can actually manage on its own. (9 of 10 to completion. If you pick a Growth-type Focus action next turn, the Collector Tree will activate its power and spend the resulting auto-success to complete itself as a side-effect.)
Your Trees, upon realizing that placing new Trees close to the creek could yield improved Growth but only if they don't erode or flood away, have jumped on the new idea. Too instinctive for Research, this has been the - rather successful - work of your Heart Trees, who found it so-far easier than expected. Perhaps a side-effect of having stared at the same creek for centuries? Regardless, you're halfway done with the work.
Unfortunately, a few Root Trees tried growing new Trees of the Forest too close to the creek, too eagerly, before the ideal placement could be planned. The last - you expect - floodtide of spring washed the young saplings away. Alas. There's a chance some will take root and may be found downstream?
A bit more work was done and a bit more progress was made on connecting to the local squirrel population. Similarly, attempts to connect to other local wildlife have continued with some progress. Also, a bit more progress has been made into Lens Trees, which briefly involved playing a game of light-tag with Arthur Scrat.
Sadly, for the second turn running, the Tree tenaciously trying to reach out to any nearby Minds has failed to make any true progress. (If that happens a third turn, I'll give a reroll or some such.) Also, attempts to research Thorns have borne no results this turn.
A pair of Root Trees attempted to figure out what type of nuts Arthur Scrat and other local squirrels prefer. They suspect that there's more to find along that line of inquiry - but were able to discern that walnuts seem to be a local squirrel favorite.
Arthur Scrat had an amazing time exploring the local woodlands. He stuck, wisely, to the small patch of Trees that felt "friendly" (as opposed to the clear areas and the trees that felt "nothing"), but still had over a square acre to explore. Trees to climb! Limbs to jump to! Limbs to jump from! Other squirrels his own age to chase and be chased by! Land to explore! Views to view! Nuts to grab! Nuts to bury! Nuts to dig up!
One day, he forgot where he placed a nut (well, really a rock - he'd been practicing), and dug over a dozen holes trying to find it. In one of them, he found a cold sharp shiny rock!
…A really long, straight, cold-sharp-shiny-rock…
With a bit of work and some convincing the Trees, you collectively managed to dig out… a sword. It is definitely old - it has been buried longer than any Tree living in your Forest remembers.
It is a simple, double-edged, hand-and-a-half sword. The hilt has mostly rotted away - as has any scabbard it may have once had. The blade remains cool even under summer's heat. A feeling of Intent imbues it.
…Trying to examine the blade has definitely proven a nice test-case for your work on Clever Trees.
(Map unlocked once I get around to creating it. +50% bonus on Clever Tree research until done. Option to further examine Magic(?) Sword locked until Clever Trees are researched, and will get double bonuses from any Clever Trees grown.)
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?
-5 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.
-3 successes banked.
Research:
[ ][Action] Research Lens Trees
-5 of 30 successes; Lens Trees will give a permanent Growth Bonus
[ ][Action] Research Clever Trees
-20 of 30 successes; Clever Trees will give a permanent Research Bonus
-Bonus +50% due to Magic(?) Sword.
-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
-15 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?
-5 of 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:
Note: Starting next turn, you will have the effects of Strong Sunlight (Growth +50%). The spring showers haven't fully faded yet and no Drought is expected next turn.
[ ][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.
-9 of 10 successes banked on a Collector Tree. This will auto-complete for-free next turn if you spend the Focus action on any Growth action.
-7 of 15 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.
[][Squirrel] Train himself
[][Squirrel] Explore your Forest
[][Squirrel] Explore the Forest's immediate surroundings
[][Squirrel] Try to figure out a favorite food
[][Squirrel] Help your Trees connect to other Squirrels
[][Squirrel] Write-in
Thank you, @Robinton, for giving us a way to autocomplete that Collector Tree!
We still need 8 more successes to get that Shield Tree, which is supposed to be partially helpful against fires and definitely helpful against physical and magical attacks. The squirrel action seems fitting with the experiments with growing new foods.
[X][Action] Grow Shield Tree
[X][Focus] Grow Shield Tree
[X][Squirrel] Try to figure out a favorite food
It would take 17 successes to grow the forest while we only need 8 successes to finish growing the Shield Tree, though the Strong Sunlight should help with both. Growing the forest will be more efficient once we finish analyzing the creek and tree placement.
[ ][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?
-5 of 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).
[x][Action] Focus on trying to grow different types of nuts for the squirrels
[X][Focus] Grow Shield Tree
Did you know that there are over 53 types of nuts found in the world, and of those, like 20 ish are edible? i want to be able to grow every kind... odds are there are some that are at least mildly poisonous and therefore can be of use in defense...
like for example raw cashews more specifically the shells around them can be poisonous if not cleaned properly before consumption/handling... as far as i remember it is like if you handled Poison Ivy, but i may be wrong on that, but this means we may be have some options in the future for sabotage if need be... need to make sure our animals cant eat them but at least the option is there right? like what if we did some cross breeding between Holly berries and Cashews? or Cashews and the seeds from like apricots, apples, or peaches? alright i'm going to stop here before i get off track, and before anyone asks, only reason i know this is cause of the research threads i used to spend hours on in school 😅
/sigh
If there is any virtue that a tree may call upon, it is persistence. We turn thin air into wood, we grow through solid rock and we will find someone to talk to.
As a side-note, this will work better the earlier you can catch the fire. So a fire that started in your territory would be curtailed significantly* by even a single Shield Success, but a massive column of flame sweeping towards your Forest... wouldn't**.
*Depending on what started the fire, details will vary. A lone match could be snuffed out by 1 Success, a lightning strike would take a few and still do a point or two of Stockpile damage (unless 8+ successes), and dragonfire... Well, as far as the Forest knows, those don't exist anyway.
**I'll guarantee this won't happen for at least the first year - and even after that I'd be treating it as a Survival Check to see what percent of the Forest can regrow after. With massive Growth bonuses for several turns thereafter due to lack-of-competition.
I just want to point out that anaylzing the creek and tree placement is not a Growth action. If it wins as our Focus, then the Collector Tree does NOT autocomplete.
[X][Action] Grow extra walnuts for Arthur Scrat to use in negotiating with the other squirrels.
[X][Focus] Grow the Forest
[X][Squirrel] Help your Trees connect to other Squirrels
- into: [X] Grow the Forest
