Turn 7
Robinton
Probably petting Schrödinger's cat
- Location
- Scientifically proving a miracle
Focus: (2+1)x2=6 automatic-successes into Grow Clever Tree.
Actions:
11 dice - 6+6 successes - into: [X] Grow Clever Tree
10 dice - 6 successes - into: [X] Shore up Creek Banks
6 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Basics of Magic
6 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Research Lens Trees
4 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Reach Out to Minds (Psychic)
4 dice - 2 successes - into: [X] Store Resources Against Future Need
3 dice - 2+2 successes - into: [X] Raise the Shield
2 dice - 2 successes - into: [X] Grow Wise Tree
2 dice - 1 success - into: [X] Grow the Forest
2 dice - 0 successes - into: [X] Research Thorns
(Dice were a bit above average, and very evenly split.)
Specials (Phigment, "Get some of the squirrels to try out the magic sword, and see if it responds to animals better than to fruit") Hmm… Dice… Hmm…
Squirrel: Train himself!
Actions:
11 dice - 6+6 successes - into: [X] Grow Clever Tree
10 dice - 6 successes - into: [X] Shore up Creek Banks
6 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Basics of Magic
6 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Research Lens Trees
4 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Reach Out to Minds (Psychic)
4 dice - 2 successes - into: [X] Store Resources Against Future Need
3 dice - 2+2 successes - into: [X] Raise the Shield
2 dice - 2 successes - into: [X] Grow Wise Tree
2 dice - 1 success - into: [X] Grow the Forest
2 dice - 0 successes - into: [X] Research Thorns
(Dice were a bit above average, and very evenly split.)
Specials (Phigment, "Get some of the squirrels to try out the magic sword, and see if it responds to animals better than to fruit") Hmm… Dice… Hmm…
Squirrel: Train himself!
This turn - partially due to the drought - an awful lot of things close. The Forest's greatest current priority has been growing the first Clever Tree, which is now more than two-thirds done. Same with the project to shore up the banks of the Creek - which received a stress-test towards the end of the turn, as glorious much-needed rain finally fell. You're almost certain you can feel Minds out at the edge of your search, to the northeast. And growing a Wise Tree is now halfway done.
More cheerfully, the Squirrel Scouts reported back in! (Map updated!) You think the Minds are probably at the end of the side-path - and the Squirrels have reported seeing a few Elves and a Human or two trekking along that side-path…
Basics of Magic is taking just as long as you thought it would, yet slow but steady progress is being made. Researching Lens Trees is much the same. Growing the Forest has made another bit of progress.
Midway through the turn, in the absolute worst of the Drought, the Forest was searching for any sign of rain. A thundercloud passed, but its rain fell - due to the wind - on the other side of the creek. The Forest was ready to groan and ignore it, when a lightning bolt struck a Tree at the ridge, barely within the Forest's borders! The Shields flared, but could not stop the lightning. However, they proved even more valuable than you'd expected for snuffing out the resulting fires, which would have been horrific in any prior year. And your carefully-stored resources repaired the lightning-struck tree (though it had to regrow largely from the roots) and your stockpile still grew slightly this turn. (17 damage blocked by Shields. 18 cumulative damage blocked by Shields - you believe you'll unlock further Shield improvements at 25 cumulative damage blocked. 1 damage taken, dealt to Stored Resources. 2 gained Resources; 1 lost Resource; net 1 Resource gained.)
Arthur Scrat has spent the turn training himself up to full fitness. Practicing his branch-to-branch jumps, playing tag with his distant relatives, training his ability to spot nuts (or foxes!) at extreme range, making sure he could chew anything (up to and including thorns and small rocks), safe falling, running speed and endurance, and other such things.
An attempt to power up the Magic(?) Sword quickly devolved into a test of how many Squirrels it takes to lift it. Answer: two, but only just barely, only the strongest squirrels, and only if one grabs onto each end. How many to get the tip off the ground while holding only the hilt? All of them, working together, and even then it's an incredibly tenuous thing.
Continued effort - made part of Arthur Scrat's training regime - saw no seeming progress, until the day after the lightning hit. Then - coincidence or not - one attempt saw a squirrel leap away chattering with cold - because it had brushed up against the flat of the blade, and felt an incredible chill emanating from the sword.
The watching Trees felt nothing beyond the usual from the Sword. Indeed, all of you are inclined to suspect that the squirrels had actually activated the blade successfully some time before, but nobody was able to tell the difference until a squirrel brushed up against the blade and felt the chill.
Your Trees then proceeded to try a handful of further tests against the blade, but had only two significant results. First, you froze solid the few new Thorn prototypes the squirrels hadn't chewed on. And second, you found that you can potentially launch the freezing sword at an intruder, if you have a bit of setup time and really want to.
How odd, you think. The sword seems obviously magical. And you can feel something from it. But on and off don't seem to feel any different - which is definitely not the case with your magic or the Trees generating it… And, come to think of it, the seeming-magic brought or performed by previous travelers along the ridge-train fit into these two categories: 'feels different when activated,' and 'doesn't feel different when activated.' Essentially all newly-cast magic was immediately detectable, you think. But items that were imbued with Intent seem about 50/50 - you don't see a strong correlation to figure out what can be sensed and what can't (possibly newer items can be sensed? Possibly items with shoddier construction can be sensed? But neither is a strong correlation). (+1 each to Basics of Magic and Grow Clever Tree.)
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.
-9 success banked.
[ ][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.
-Feel free to write in a specific request. The Forest is reaching that point where it can target specific classes of animals.
-4.5 successes banked.
Research:
[ ][Action] Research Lens Trees
-8 of 30 successes; Lens Trees will give a permanent Growth Bonus
[ ][Action] Research Thorns
-2 of 10 successes; unlocks a Defense action to build up a stockpile of Thorns that will damage any invaders
[ ][Action] Basics of Magic
-6 of 50 successes; begin the systematic study of this, this Magic/Intent/whatever, that you're starting to use. A larger project, but expected to grant immediate benefits and unlock further possibilities.
Survival:
[ ][Action] Store Resources Against Future Need
-19 stored; this will function as a spare HP pool against anything that gets through your Defense, and may be useful for other things
[ ][Action] Shore up Creek Banks
-Several promising locations, down by the creek-bank, have dangerously unstable soil. Shore this up to allow more Trees to be safely grown.
-13 of 20 successes.
-Grants a +25% bonus AND halves any Drought penalties, when Growing any Special Trees, until we have 12 Special Trees total (9 Special Trees with ~10-20 cost, or about 135 progress, to go… so again moderately more efficient than 1-to-1 progress in direct Growth).
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 2 automatic successes from Shield Trees, if at least 1 Player-Tree votes for this action.
Growth:
Note: As the last turn of summer, the following turn will have the effects of Strong Sunlight (Growth +50%). No Drought is expected for the following turn.
[ ][Action] Grow the Forest
-This has a +25% bonus from Analyze Creek and Tree Placement until we reach Magnitude 3.
-8.65 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.
-11.8 of 15 successes banked on Clever Tree.
-5 of 10 successes banked on Wise 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 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
Your Votes should look like the following:
[ ][Action] Action
[ ][Focus] Action
[ ][Focus] Action x2
[ ][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.
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