Just read to the point where I'm prepared to vote, and my position's that refusing to ever use a skill until it's "high enough" with no basis to tell how high is enough is toxic and wasteful, so I'm voting to see what can be done with Oracle 1.
EDIT: Wait, no, that somehow made it worse...? Huh, someone must've changed their vote by post-editing. Or I'm reading the tally wrong. Whatever, this is still my preferred option.
A snow coloured demon, a monster out of legends, bounded up the slope towards him. The afternoon sun streamed off of its white mane like fire, huge fangs like mountain peaks, red tongue like flame.
[X][Com] Train Militia (1 Labour Committed for 1 Week)
[X][Com] Organize Hamlet Law (0/3 Weeks, Commits Expertise or a character with Administrative skill)
[X][Per] Study Skill - Dungeonmaster
If you wanna picture Otar, then imagine something sort of halfway between a Caucasian Ovcharka (mountain variety, from working stock) and an Irish Wolfound in terms of build and coat.
Fun fact, my parents adopted a Great Pyrenees/Collie cross a few years back. Imaging if you will a corgi, only in a full sized body rather than the compact loaf that is standard, and much lazier and derpier.
Fun fact, my parents adopted a Great Pyrenees/Collie cross a few years back. Imaging if you will a corgi, only in a full sized body rather than the compact loaf that is standard, and much lazier and derpier.
Fun fact, my parents adopted a Great Pyrenees/Collie cross a few years back. Imaging if you will a corgi, only in a full sized body rather than the compact loaf that is standard, and much lazier and derpier.
[X][Com] Train Militia (1 Labour Committed for 1 Week)
[X][Com] Organize Hamlet Law (0/3 Weeks, Commits Expertise or a character with Administrative skill)
[X][Per] Attempt to Commune With Spirits
[X][Callom] Organize Hamlet Law
Reinner Trains Militia
While it was only a week old and supposed to be for major meetings, already the church was getting a workout as a place for the most important members of the community to meet in a state of near panic.
Today a think slush was falling upon the building, the weather not quite sure if it was a late winter snow or an early winter rain, and Reinner stepped in with a miserable look on his face as he swiped as much of the clinging wetness off his cloak and tabard. The fact that he had had to go out in full harness meant that he was no doubt exhausted and miserable from the struggle of tromping around the muck outside in maille, but he kept it mostly off his face.
"Come here Sir Reinner, sit by the fire and have some soup," Fenrick offered, moving his own chair away from the heart where he, Katrin, Callom, and the man who had reported on the situation.
"Thank you good priest," Reinner replied thankfully as he took a stool and the offered bowl. After fortifying himself with the hot broth he breathed out and said, "The good news is that we aren't all going to die in our beds tonight. So that's something. The bad news is that there are in fact undead creatures out and about and they are wandering past the outer rings of wards."
"It's always bad at this time of year, the end of winter will knock some down and leave gaps that are hard to repair until the weather settles..." Callom notes unpleasantly, although the note in the air is that obviously in prior years they had not had to deal with a labyrinth.
"We're fortunate we drilled the militia this week and have been doing so much activity close to the center. Few shepherds were far enough out to be attacked and the militia was able to assist in the sweep of the region for monsters and those in need of aid," Reinner stated, sparing a glance at Alaric. "Sadly good shepherd not all were as fortunate as you, although thankfully far fewer than there could have been."
"So how bad is it overall?" Callom asked.
"There's something strong out there driving the undead on, but not strong enough to breach the inner wardings, yet. The revenants and wights and such we have seen have been severely weakened by straying so far into managed land, but I doubt most of them would be put down for good without some sort of magic. Since I recommend not taking the roads right now, that means either waiting for Baron Horvic to send reinforcements that will probably be turned back and then wait for a proper sage to arrive, or spending the time and effort to carve soldiers charms and train the militia so that we can take the fight to whatever is out there. Expeditions to the labyrinth may be required to obtain experience and supplies though, which has its own troubles," Reinner explained, laying out the situation.
At this Katrin spoke up and said, "I have some information on that actually. I had been seeking to understand the nature of the crystal and attempted to commune with the spirits. I didn't get a full answer, or at least not one I could understand, but what I have managed to piece together is that that crystal is cursed."
A look of profound pain crosses over Reinner's face at that explanation, and he says, "I will be paying a compensation to the community and paying a tithe to this church for bringing that crystal up."
Grimacing a bit, Katrin waggles her gnarled hands and says, "I'm not sure if it was safe to leave it their either. From what I understand there is something about the crystal that attracts wicked spirits, and may also have a negative influence on the living if they are around it too much. I needed all week to piece that information together and I'm still trying to sort the impressions I got out. I think that if we keep the crystal in the labyrinth the spirits outside might lose interest and wander away, but that the spirits within are likely to become interested instead. Those might be more manageable..."
"I sense a 'but' coming up here," Fenrick said comfortingly.
"But the labyrinth keeps growing. When I broke up that more dangerous node before, I think I spurred overall growth. More and more nodes are growing, and I think soon they will start getting deeper and more dangerous, like before," Katrin explains.
Sighing, Reinner slumps his shoulders a touch and states, "Were the trails open to us, I would counsel that we send for aid from the baron. Even a few more yeomen might help us prune back the labyrinth, but this situation leaves us caught between two threats. We can only hope that either help arrives soon or the transitory threat passes."
"All I know is that all the wrangling stuff about who has to do what about maintaining the wards is getting turned into 'pay your taxes, we're hiring experts' from now on," Callom replied sarcastically.
Minor Spiritual Seige
-1 Morale for duration
Diplomatic options currently unavailable
Unknown Crystal status updated to Cursed Crystal (Attracts Monsters)
What to do with it?
[] [Crystal] Cast into the swamp (Likely lifts siege... for now)
[] [Crystal] Store in labyrinth (Possibly lifts siege, transfers effects to monster spawn rate)
[] [Crystal] Store in church (No change to status)
Currently Have 2 Community Actions and 1 Personal Action for Katrin
Knight Reinner will put his action towards something combat related, depending on what the community does
Construction (Committed Labour X (Committed Expertise + 1)) Expand Church (0/8 Weeks, Requires Labour 2, Expertise Multiplier -1)
Extend Guildhall: Barracks (0/4 Weeks) Refine Guildhall (0/8 Weeks, Requires: Expertise 2)
Build Basic Roads (0/16 Weeks)
Expand Smithy (0/8 Weeks, Expertise Multiplier -1)
Training
Train Militia (1 Labour Committed for 1 Week)
Diplomacy Attract Experts (Commits 1 Wealth Until Completed +4 Weeks, Checks against Prestige each Week, +1 Expertise Upon Completion) Attract Trade (Commits 1 Wealth Until Completed +4 Weeks, Checks against Prestige each Week, +1 Wealth Upon Completion) Hire Mercenaries (Commits X Wealth to hire a Level X Adventuring Band, Checks against Prestige each Week to hire, Wealth remains Committed until mercenaries leave contract) Sell Artifact -Unknown Crystal (Commits 1 Expertise or a character with diplomatic skills for 1 week, +1 Wealth)
Organize Hamlet Law (2/3 Weeks, Commits Expertise or a character with Administrative skill)
Labyrinth
Explore Labyrinth (1 Week, Commits 1 Labour OR a Character with Combat/Exploration Skills, Generates Random Events, Potential Loss of Committed Resources)
Patrol Node (1 Week, Commits 1 Labour OR a Character with Combat/Exploration Skills, Generates Lesser Random Events) Patrol Surrounding Region (1 Week, Commits 1 Labour OR a Character with Combat/Exploration Skills, Generates Lesser Random Events)
March on Attackers (Requires Militia, Current Odds are Judged as: Poor)
Personal
Study Skill
Organize Project
Attempt to Commune with Spirits (requires Oracle skill or similar)
Influence Labyrinth (requires Dungeonmaster skill or similar)
-Explode Node (produces three new nodes of lesser level than the target node on success, cannot be used on Level 0 nodes)
Cap Node (requires Dungeonmaster skill or similar, requires a character or formation on Labyrinth patrol as escort, decreases node power and reduces dangerous monster spawn risk)
Community Stats
Labour 1
Expertise 1
Wealth 0
Prestige 1
Morale 2
Buildings
Hamlet Smithy (+1 Expertise)
Hamlet Church (+1 Morale, 0/1 Holy)
Headman's House
Basic Guildhall Completed (1/1 PC Adventurer, 1/1 NPC Adventurer)
Statuses
Demoralized (-1 Morale Until Start of Week 5)
Wealth Spent (-1 Wealth Until Start of Week 6)
Minor Spirit Siege (-1 Morale for duration, Diplomatic options currently unavailable)
Labyrinth Stats
Total Nodes 8
Level 0: 1 Capped
Level 1: 1 Explored, 6 Unexplored
Random Threat: 7%
Formations
Poor Militia (Militia 2)
While the crystal has always been cursed to increase monster spawns/attraction, initially you avoided any spawns or attracting anything, but @Admiral Skippy wrote such a good piece that I reworked my own plans to include that.
[X][Com] Explore Labyrinth - 1 Labour
[X][Com] Carve Soldier Charms (0/5 Max Useful) - 1 Expertise
[X][Per] Study Skill - Oracle @Callom Would you be willing to finish the law for us?
Find weapons/tools, defeat monsters. Study Oracle skill to figure out why the monsters want the Crystal or if we can find a way to turn it off.
[X][Com] Explore Labyrinth - 1 Labour
[X][Com] Carve Soldier Charms (0/5 Max Useful) - 1 Expertise
[X][Per] Study Skill - Oracle @Callom Would you be willing to finish the law for us?
Find weapons/tools, defeat monsters. Study Oracle skill to figure out why the monsters want the Crystal or if we can find a way to turn it off.
Unknown Crystal status updated to Cursed Crystal (Attracts Monsters)
What to do with it?
[] [Crystal] Cast into the swamp (Likely lifts siege... for now)
[] [Crystal] Store in labyrinth (Possibly lifts siege, transfers effects to monster spawn rate)
[] [Crystal] Store in church (No change to status)
"Lifts siege... for now" sounds like we'll get something worse, later, if we choose it. Of course, later we might have more resources to solve the problem, too.
Store in labyrinth seems likely to make getting more resources out of the labyrinth riskier and more difficult, and might not lift the siege. Ow.
Storing in the church means we continue to have no diplomacy, which means no spending loot from the labyrinth hiring those experts who might be able to deal with the problem.
Honestly, I'm real tempted to throw it in the swamp.
"Lifts siege... for now" sounds like we'll get something worse, later, if we choose it. Of course, later we might have more resources to solve the problem, too.
Store in labyrinth seems likely to make getting more resources out of the labyrinth riskier and more difficult, and might not lift the siege. Ow.
Storing in the church means we continue to have no diplomacy, which means no spending loot from the labyrinth hiring those experts who might be able to deal with the problem.
Honestly, I'm real tempted to throw it in the swamp.
Hmmm an interesting if problematic issue, dealing with ice zombies , possible monsters from an ever growing dungeon . Recource issues as well as winter. Building roads in the middle of winter doesnt sound like an easy or honestly feasible task with the amount of recources we have available and tools.
Tho I guess that's handwaved with quest stuff... anyway for clarification , can anyone try their hand at writing one of these basic npcs or side stories? Thinking about writing a village peasent PoV and their anxieties at all the recent changes and perhaps show some of that moral drop at work.
[X] [Con] Build Basic Roads (0/16 Weeks)
-[X] Commit 1 Labor and 1 Expertise
[X] [Per] Study Skill Dungeonmaster
[X] [Crystal] Store in church (No change to status)
Sighing, Reinner slumps his shoulders a touch and states, "Were the trails open to us, I would counsel that we send for aid from the baron. Even a few more yeomen might help us prune back the labyrinth, but this situation leaves us caught between two threats. We can only hope that either help arrives soon or the transitory threat passes."
- Start the basic roads, so we can get greater support from the baron and more people (more Labour) to join our village.
[][Crystal] Store in labyrinth(possibly lifts siege, transfers effects to monster spawn rate)
[][Com] Carve Soldier Charms (0/5 Max Useful) - 1 Expertise
[][Com] Patrol Node(1 Labor)
[][Per] Cap Node
Anyway my thought is that theres a solution to the crystal:
-We store it in the labyrinth, upping the spawn rate.
-Then we organize a Node Patrol to suppress the spawning and get XP from it, between Renner and the Militia, it should be safe enough.
-While we're at it, we cap a node to further dampen the spawn rate.
-Net effect: Diminished spawn rate, reduced siege and the route is open to spend our wealth and try to sell the crystal.
Might as well finish the Law while we're at it. You can't build roads under siege. That means the workers need an escort the whole way and tske terrible attrition
Obsoleted by a crazy plan:
[X][Com] Carve Soldier Charms (0/5 Max Useful) - 1 Expertise
[X][Com] Train Militia (1 Labour Committed for 1 Week)
[X][Per] Study Skill - Oracle
