TreeQuest: Magitech (Riot Quest)

Oh, what a turn this has been! There hasn't been a time so brief yet chaotic since... Four years ago? Or four hundred? It all depends on how you count it.

With the help of the Deer, two Special Trees were completed: Your second Wise Tree and your third Shield Tree. Any other turn, those two would be the largest matter!

You are basically 70% of the way through researching the Basics of Magic, maybe a single good turn away from figuring out Lens Trees (you have the lensing working; you have the magical-projection working; you aren't sure how to get the magical-projection to work at enough range and reliability), and basically halfway through researching Throwing Spikes (which is an odd combination of figuring out propulsion methods, aerodynamics, ballistics, and targeting).

You have started mentally questing towards those downstream Beavers, with some success. You have put a bit more effort into Growing the Forest, and indeed the forest has grown slightly more.

And, in a series of timely moves, you have finished turning the Forest into a… less of a death-trap for all foes, and more of a really annoying and generally-dangerous place for said foes. The Deer had been planning to help, but you actually finished it without them, so they put some effort into training for War; Deer don't usually stay and fight - but, then, they don't usually have a Forest actively helping and directing them either. You have quadrupled your Thorns stockpile, and stored a glut of further resources against future harm. You have ensured the Shield would be ready, and Pollen present in the air, against any threat. And you have had all the Squirrels stay in the Forest - ready…

---

"Materson! Open up, Materson!" shouted Granny Miller, while hammering on the door of his house.

"Hold your horses, hold your horses," replied Old Man Materson, who unbarred the door and walked creakily out of his house. "What's got you in a tizzy, 'Delle?"

"Either magic or indigestion. I had a dream that a bunch of trees were trying to talk with me, and never have I felt anything like it before."

"Trees? Talking trees? What would trees have to talk about, anyway? Except the consistency of squirrel droppings."

"They were asking about, everything, it seemed like. Andrewsburg to the north and Talanburg to the south. Magic. Ancient Technology. The difference between the two. How old elves get. How to make a bow work. I don't think I've ever seen a kid ask that many questions!"

Old Man Materson stood there, looking at her consideringly. Two people who outlived all of their human counterparts (and some of their elven), considering for a long moment.

"I've had weirder dreams," he finally said, "But I'll check it out. Best focal point is probably wherever you had the dream; need to grab some Linestone…"

Half an hour later, she was lying down in her bed, with four shiny chunks of Linestone evenly placed around her. Her oldest grandson, Gustav, kept half an eye on everything. Old Man Materson put a single hand on her forehead, and chanted, "Wideo, Eido, See!"

For a long moment he froze, before jerking back and nearly falling over. "Well," he said, "Well. That's magic alright. Never seen the likes of that before. But those are trees, alright. West and a bit south. Probably over the creek."

"So you're saying that trees are - really - reaching into my dreams and asking what fruits and nuts humans and elves like?"

"If that's what you saw, probably. Far as I can tell."

"Huh…" she said. After about three seconds of thinking, she decided, "Grab the Bens and figure out what we're going to do about this." The Grimm father and son were the closest to tacticians the village had, and Materson was their best with weird or obscure things. "I'll check with Tavish - just in case he's ever seen the like."

"Right away, your majesty," Materson jokingly saluted, before heading out to do as requested (and escape retaliation).

She frowned after him. But her grandson was well-enough acquainted with her expressions to know she was still somewhat amused - a fact that he didn't state aloud, as he busily got after his next task (harvesting, as usual in fall).

---

While the village spent a day deciding what to do - and ultimately decided to come up with some questions of their own, along with a few answers - a pulse of much darker magic emanated from the creekbed, right next to the Forest.

Your Trees were watchful enough to notice more-or-less immediately. But when a shallow pool suddenly deepens, and a Monster of writhing tentacles appears from the depths, everything notices - and either scrambles away as fast as it can, or rides into the fight.

Your Shields take the blow of its initial attempts to tear your Trees from the ground (2 damage blocked; 22 of 25 cumulative), and it frustratedly drags itself from the pool, revealing a massive (maybe 10 feet tall?) main body. It seems to lack recognizable eyes, but does have a mouth of some sort. It has at least a dozen tentacles, all covered with suckers. And it apparently can - and does - slowly drag itself uphill, into the heart of your Forest, thrashing at the shields with every motion.

Whatever sort of monster it is, it doesn't seem well-adapted to being on land, and your Thorns and Traps tear at it with every motion. Your Pollen coats it, and seems to dry it unnaturally quickly. It shrieks and gurgles, strange alien sounds according to the Deer and Squirrels. Yet it isn't dead, nor even close. (7 damage dealt; 2 from Traps, 4 from Thorns, and 1 from Pollen. Note that, with its size and speed, only about 4 points of Thorns damage can be applied per turn.)

Just as he'd so recently trained, Arthur Scrat rides to the rescue, with the Magic(?) Sword ready to launch! Our Trees prepare more Thorns, Raise the Shield, and try desperately to give Arthur Scrat as good of Targeting data as possible (and here we'd been thinking the Squirrels would provide Targeting data to us in a fight!).

And - as far as you can tell - Newton Village is completely oblivious to these happenings. And since you're having a hard time getting their attention outside their dreams, it doesn't look like you can contact them for help.

---

Combat Actions:
In any combat situation, "combat rounds" will continue until the foe is defeated, the foe leaves, or the foe ceases to be a (significant/immediate) problem. Many of your normal actions will be unavailable - after all, weeks of growth cannot easily be compressed into less than an hour, and that's the correct timescale for a combat round. These "combat rounds" will not reduce the number of normal turns that you get in a year, but they can potentially speed up your acquisition of Elder Tree and similar upgrades.

[ ][Action] Sword Targeting (Communication)
[ ][Action] Sword Targeting (Research)
-Counts as Communication or Research; pick whichever is better for you.
-Help Arthur Scrat attack as effectively as possible with the Magic(?) Sword.
-The Magic(?) Sword is expected to do serious damage. Arthur Scrat rolls once per round, but gets a reroll on a miss (easier to fire again when the sword isn't stuck in the monster).
-Every 5 successes improves his to-hit chance for the round. Starts as hitting on a 6 only, but every 5 successes improves that by 1. (So 5 successes takes this to hitting on a 5 or 6, 10 to hitting on a 4/5/6, 15 to hitting on a 3/4/5/6, etc.)

[ ][Action] Stress-Test Throwing Spikes (Research)
[ ][Action] Stress-Test Throwing Spikes (Growth)
[ ][Action] Stress-Test Throwing Spikes (Offense)
-Counts as a Research, Growth, or Offense action; pick whichever is better for you.
-Lob your half-done Throwing Spikes at the problem.
-Half of the successes contribute to Research Throwing Spikes general action; the other half do actual damage. After Research Throwing Spikes is complete, all will do actual damage.

[ ][Action] Store Resources Against Future Need
-Counts as a Survival action.
-32 stored; this will function as a spare HP pool against anything that gets through your Defense, and may be useful for other things

[ ][Action] Raise the Shield
-Counts as a Defense action.
-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.

[ ][Action] Stockpile Thorns (Defense)
[ ][Action] Stockpile Thorns (Growth)
-Counts as a Defense or Growth action; pick whichever is better for you.
-Successes stockpile up to 10 times the Magnitude of the Forest. These will automatically damage hostile intruders that enter the Forest.
-4 of 20 stockpiled.

[ ][Action] Release Annoying Pollen
-Counts as an Offense action.
-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.

Your Votes should look like the following:

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

Newcomers should add one of the following:

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

This vote will always be open.