TreeQuest: Magitech (Riot Quest)

[Sir Plusse]

Guess it's a good thing I decided to help the Bears; we almost lost one! Fortunately, we managed to resuscitate it, and it even got an epiphany out of it too! Nothing new, but if Arthur's any indication it should be an improvement over our own skill.

Kinda busy at the moment, though; will keep this tab open until I have time to vote.

 

[SeaTheTree]

[X][Action] Analyze Mundane Movement (Biology Research) (Movement Research)
[X][Focus] Lethal Pollen (Magic Biology Research)
[X][Focus] Monster Energy (Magic Biology Research) (Biology Research) (Magic) (Magic Research)
[X][Focus] Life Indeed (Magic Biology Research)
[X][Focus] Flesh, Not of My Flesh (Magic Biology Research)

 

[Toboe]

[Format] Quest Format selection



Frankly, I'm confused about what this vote option is even about, personally.

Click to shrink...

I requested that the vote spoilers are organized differently, i think @Robinton is putting that to a vote

Spoiler: Actions

Spoiler: Actions: Communication

Communication:
Note: A fantastic insight grants you +5% on all Communication actions. The Speaking Tree in Newton Village grants you +10% on all Communication actions, and an additional +10% when interacting with Minds. The Sensing Trees grant +5% each on all Communication actions, and reduce range penalties when present. The Speakers for the Forest (Ben and Betty Grimm) each grant +10% to all Communication actions, and an additional +5% with Two-Legs. Total: +45% base, +20% extra with Minds.

[ ][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.
-This ignores Newton Village and the people thereof.

[ ][Action] Connect to Local Wildlife (Psychic)
-Bears - heavy combat? Birds - scouts? Worms - growth bonus? 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 can easily target specific classes of animals.
-Anything that Newton Village is familiar with is discounted 50% in difficulty due to them helping you understand the creatures.
-Monsters are harder to reach than normal animals. If you want to grab a specific monster, have your animals locate it first.
-12.22 unspecified successes banked.
-1.25 of ??? successes towards Birds of Prey (will resolve to something more specific).
-240 out of -9876543.21 successes towards Shadow Spinners

[ ][Action] Incorporated Growth
-The Forest has done extensive Research on merging other Trees with the Forest. But the Communication-specialists haven't fully attuned to this project.
-When completed, Growth Incorporated (Grow the Forest automatic successes per turn) will gain a bonus equal to 10% of the Forest's Specialized Dice in Communication (currently 70*10%=7).
-0 of 42 successes

Spoiler: Actions: Research

Research:
Note: Your Wise Trees grant you +50% on Research actions. Your Laser Computer grants you +20% on Research actions, and a +15% extra bonus when Overcharged (consuming 4 Resources per turn).
Focus: Any Focus action directed towards Research gains +6 auto-successes from Clever Trees.
(Destructive Testing: If you have access to an enemy and wish to perform destructive testing, vote for the Research action as usual but put in a subvote on the next line like "-[X] Destructive Testing on <Enemy>". This will neither help nor hinder the Research, but may cause a bit of bonus damage to the enemy. This will be limited to combinations that make sense.)

Currently locked: Research Elder Sensing Trees (Magic Biology Research). The Forest will need to - at minimum - spend a year or so using the current Sensing Trees OR invent multiple interesting new methods of sensing, before making significant upgrades.
-0 of 5 successes per category; enables upgrading one type of Special Tree to Elder Special Tree

[ ][Action] Research Ancient Shield Trees (Magic Biology Research)
[ ][Action] Research Ancient Void Trees (Magic Biology Research)
-Further options will unlock when you grow at least one Elder of that type
-0 of 10 successes per category; enables upgrading one type of Elder Special Tree to Ancient Special Tree

Locked: Water/Fire Negacion (Magic Research) - needs Water to Competent first.

[ ][Action] Water Lot of Fun (Magic Research)
-It's been suggested that we combine Water and Fire, but we must first learn Water.
-Rewards: Water Magic to Competent; probably other effects; at least one Beaver will likely gain Water Magic.
-Bonus of +25% from prior experience with Water (particularly the Beavers' experience).
-1.9 of 28 successes

[ ][Action] Research Vine Shield-Piercing (Magic Research)
-The Vines were able to pierce through our best Shields. It was a lot of work for them, yes, but they still could. See if we can recreate this effect - possibly with the captured Vine seedlings - and see if we can learn anything from it.
-Should grant an option to half attack-power in exchange for dividing enemy Shield effectiveness by 8 against your Magical attacks. Should upgrade the Forest's Shields to better resist Shield-piercing or -draining effects.
-Concentrating Magic - both Power and Intent - very densely seems to have been involved, as does picking certain Magic Elements (Malice itself, but Death seems to work adequately) that would tend to counter Protection/Defense.
-29.59 of 40 successes

[ ][Action] Analyze Mundane Movement (Biology Research) (Movement Research)
-Your Trees can move around with Magic, with some effort. But how does non-Magical, Mundane, Movement work? If you can carefully tweak your own bodies in the right ways, you should be able to get significantly better results with the Movement Magic that you have. Plus, studying Movement is a good way to grow your Movement Magic, to prepare for the next step there.
-Bonus of +25% from Vine Growth.
-40.96 of 55 successes

[ ][Action] Analyze Special Tree Growth
-The Sensing Trees have collected quite a bit of data on how the Forest Grows Trees, particularly Special Trees. Sort through that data, and try running some experiments, to see if we can develop more insights on Growing Special Trees, or potentially even Growth itself.
-This will gain 10 automatic successes (with bonuses) per turn from the Herbalist until completed.
-29.61 of 65 successes

[ ][Action] Hevel
-You have some familiarity with Steam and Vapor; time to study them further.
-This should boost the Weather Trees noticeably, as well as increasing your Steam Magic to Competent.
-2.4 of 30 successes

[ ][Action] Weather Analysis
-The Corvids have long understood Thermals, large columns of rising air that (among other things) tend to create clouds. They would like to work with the Forest to analyze Weather from multiple points of view at once, and believe that the Forest's Weather manipulation and Weather Magic will both gain a bonus from doing so.
-17.34 of 30 successes

[ ][Action] Monster Energy (Magic Biology Research) (Biology Research) (Magic) (Magic Research)
-See if you can get the Sensing Trees to detect the source of Monster Energy. If so, you'll get the ability to detect Monsters, through virtually any stealth, at quite some range…
-And if you can detect it reliably, why not go further and research it, too!
-This gains +10% from the Dire Bat, +20% from the Lesser Fire Salamander, and +30% from the Lesser Wraith. +60% cumulative.
-7.16 of 35/??? successes

[ ][Action] Void Forest (Magic) (Void)
-Your Elder Empty Tree needs to be defended. But it seems to exist in an undetectable world adjacent(?) to ordinary space. Of course, this particular challenge is also a potential opportunity: a way to Grow somewhere that the majority of your current foes probably can't easily access, and might or might not even know exists.
-This will require use of Void Magic.
-This has a +25% bonus from Ben Grimm's brainstorming. Any Empty Veil overflow will contribute half (with Empty Veil modifiers) to this action.
-13.95 of ??? successes

[ ][Action] Lethal Pollen (Magic Biology Research)
-The Forest has a rough theory on creating an Annoying Pollen variant capable of clogging any breathing-Creature's airways across about ten to twenty minutes.
-This would produce an indiscriminate - but tremendously-effective - anti-army attack.
-This upgrade could, of course, be turned back off (or deliberately weakened) as desired.
-0 of 15 successes

[ ][Action] Magic-Drain
-The Lesser Wraith steals its Magic and Energy from others. While you probably won't be able to gain the same effectiveness it has (or at least not easily), it would only make sense to try to replicate the ability.
-Adds a new attack, which probably won't be super-effective but any success should grant free successes-or-dice to other attacks (for instance Laser). Adds a new enchanting option, to make an enchantment draw from enemies. Unlocks options for trying to buff the shield to steal Magic from anything attacking it.
-0 of 30 successes

[ ][Action] Magical Construct Analysis
-The Lesser Wraith is a life-form made entirely of Magic. While it is fairly complex, managing a simpler version shouldn't be that hard.
-Adds an option for sending a packet of energy to act as a very-long-range spell. Enables homing spells (without the Forest specifically controlling them). Enables Spells that perform basic logic without further commands on the Forest's part. Unlocks a new project to learn to create a Creature of Magic - a less energy-intensive Magical assistant commonly created and used by skilled Mages.
-6.59 of 40 successes

[ ][Action] Life Indeed (Magic Biology Research)
-Arthur Scrat has set you on the path of gaining Life Magic. You Live already, and are quite familiar with Life, but you'd like to also teach your Creatures…
-This will improve the Forest to Competent level, and teach the majority of your Creatures the basics of at least one Magic Element (typically Life).
-This gets a +30% bonus, and 1 free auto-success per turn, from your various Creatures studying this Magic on their own time. This gets a +10% bonus, and a 2nd free auto-success per turn, from Betty Grimm's study of Life Magic. This gets a +15% bonus (plus Creatures will often gain other Magics instead or in addition to Life) from your understanding of the process of gaining Magic. Cumulative: 2 auto-successes and +55% bonus.
-27.78 of 50 successes

[ ][Action] Burninator
-The Lesser Fire Salamander has Fire at (effectively) the Expert level. The Forest is only Competent, but could definitely learn to Journeyman (Journeyforest?) rank.
-Double all successes from the Lesser Fire Salamander (a fully-dedicated Connected Teacher two ranks above you), plus the odd bit of tutoring from Old Man Materson.
-This gains +0.3x2=+0.6 successes per success at Fuego! Pyrofuego! Burn!
-51.5 of 150 successes

[ ][Action] Flesh, Not of My Flesh (Magic Biology Research)
-Study Flesh, all the squishy squicky bits of all Animals. This includes muscles and ligaments and tendons and organs… and pretty much everything except Bone (and arguably skin, and probably hair and nails/claws?).
-This will raise your Flesh Magic rank to Competent. That will probably not benefit the Forest itself - aside from unlocking new projects and assisting Movement Research - but will benefit the Forest's Creatures (and Newton Village etc.) instead.
-This gets a +50% bonus from studying your Creatures plus Newton Village.
-11.18 of 50 successes

[ ][Action] Incorporate Plant <plant>
-Incorporate a plant into the Forest, at least enough to learn something from it.
-0 of 15 successes - Aranion - mostly-mundane Healing (Mammals)
-0 of 15 successes - Dandelions - permanent +5% to Grow The Forest
-0 of 15 successes - Poison Ivy - Annoying Pollen 3x effect, Lethal Pollen 1.5x effect
-Feel free to suggest other options! There are a lot of good possibilities, though few massive gamechangers, and I'll add anything approved to this list.

Spoiler: Actions: Survival

Survival:
Note: Manipulating the tiny bits of Fire Within every living thing grants +25% to all Survival successes. The Elder Lens Tree grants +10% to all Survival successes.

[ ][Action] Store Resources Against Future Need
-This has a +20% bonus from Technology: Farming, a +15% bonus from Vine Growth research, a +10% bonus from Managed Mycelium, and a +5% bonus from Earth Magic. Total +50%.
-Creatures may cost Resources to upkeep (in winter); Monsters usually do. Your Dire Bat costs 1 Resource per turn in Winter and can otherwise feed itself. Your Lesser Wraith costs 2 Resources per turn. Your Lesser Fire Salamander costs 1 Resource per turn except in fall (leaves!).
-191.3 stored; this will function as a spare HP pool against anything that gets through your Defense, and may be useful for other things.
-Limit of 50*(Magnitude^2). Currently 800. You may never reach the limit, but it does exist.

[ ][Action] Mining
-Dig up some Linestone for Newton Village. They owe us a Favor for every 5 successes.
-Metalworking grants +15% to all successes. Earth Magic Novice grants +15% to all successes.
-This may receive bonus successes if Let It Rain helps Newton Village through a drought (note: this usually only applies in the summer).
-3.38 of 5 successes and 4 Favors banked.

[ ][Action] Feed the Swarm (Bees)
-Every success will permanently add 1 to the maximum number of Bee Attack Successes per turn. I'm not sure why you would want more than 20 or 30 total, at least not until the Forest gets massive, but there aren't any currently-known limits on how many times you can succeed at this action.

[ ][Action] Rain and Shine
-Each time completed, grants a 1-turn +10% bonus to all Growth Successes for that turn. Costs 4 Successes (one per Magnitude of the Forest); these successes can be saved from turn to turn. Every Weather Tree (currently 1) grants +1 to this each turn.
-2.04 of 4 successes

Unavailable - severe droughts not anticipated this autumn - Let it Rain
-Grants a 1-turn +10% bonus to all Growth Successes for that turn. Can be taken multiple times, up until it fully cancels out the Drought penalty. Costs 4 Successes (one per Magnitude of the Forest); these successes can only be saved from turn to turn if a drought is ongoing, though excess will be directed elsewhere. Every Weather Tree (currently 1) grants +1 to this each turn.
-0 of 4 successes (including the Weather Tree)

Grow Unusual Lumber
-Automatically happens.
-You could contribute, though at this point the Unusual Lumber Tree will probably generate as much as you can store and sell. It generates (1 + 10% of the Active Specialized Survival Dice) Unusual Lumber, per turn, modified only by Tall Tree bonuses.
-12.67 of max=50 successes

Spoiler: Actions: Defense

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 about 12.9 (depends on Active Player Trees) automatic successes from Shield Trees. Gains +60% to all successes.

[ ][Action] Empty Veil (Void)
-Magically convince the general vicinity that you, the Forest, are not present.
-Now that you have at least one Elder Void Tree, this action seems to dampen attempts to magically analyze the Forest within, as well as slightly reducing the effectiveness of mental assaults.
-Currently requires 5 successes to activate (this will grow with Forest Magnitude). Lasts for 1 round, and gives all foes -1 to-hit against the Forest.
-Each Empty Tree gives an automatic +1 per round (if at least one Player Action or Forest Focus is on Empty Veil) toward this action (successes can be stored within a single fight or turn but not from turn to turn). Any successes that stand to be lost (end of combat, overflow, or Shield-but-not-Veil active) will be applied as 0.75 Shield successes each (from making the Shield and Forest both harder to hit).
-The Elder Empty Tree grants 1.1*1.03 * (1+3.3) <5 successes per turn, so this does not automatically succeed every turn. That said, if at least one player votes for it, the normal Empty Tree will activate, and it will auto-succeed.
-0 of 5 successes

[ ][Action] Stockpile Thorns
-Successes stockpile up to 10 times the Magnitude of the Forest. These will automatically damage hostile intruders that enter the Forest.
-31.96 of 40 stockpiled.

Spoiler: Actions: Growth

Growth:
Note: Your Lens Trees grant you +77.5% to Growth.
(Dam: +20% Growth to offset drought penalties for the first turn of any drought; we expect this to become less effective as the Magnitude of the Forest grows (Magnitude 5 will reduce the effectiveness somewhat; further Magnitudes unknown).)
Focus: Any Focus action directed towards Growth gains +4 auto-successes from Collector Trees.

[ ][Action] Grow the Forest
-The opportunity to grow into the charred clearing, where once the Evil Vines ruled, grants +25% to Grow the Forest until Magnitude 6. Cultivated Surroundings grant a +25% bonus to Grow the Forest until Magnitude 7.
-This has 5 autosuccesses per turn from Growth Incorporated, with modifiers as a Communication action.
-27.71 of 130 successes to Magnitude 5

[ ][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.
-Shore Up Creek Banks: Grants a +25% bonus AND halves any Drought penalties, when Growing any Special Trees, until we have 30 Special Trees total (includes Speaker and Mining Trees).
-3.9 of 12 successes banked on Sensing Tree

[ ][Action] Upgrade <Treename>
-Replace <Treename> with the name of a Special Tree from the Front Page. Variable cost.
-This will upgrade a normal Special Tree to an Elder of its same type, or (when unlocked) an Elder Special Tree to an Ancient of its same type.
-8.85 of 30 successes to Upgrade Lens Tree to Elder.

[ ][Action] Widen the Cave Entrance
-Grow Roots to widen and shore up the Cave Entrance, so you can get more than just Squirrels and Moles down there.
-Your Connection fades as your Creatures delve downwards - you suspect Voidshards and/or Voidshard Dust, but have no confirmation.
-Taking place underground, this ignores light bonuses and malluses.
-9.8 of 15 successes

Spoiler: Actions: Offense

Offense:
Note: Study of Death Magic grants +10% to all Offense successes.

[ ][Action] Release Annoying Pollen
-Any particular target? It can be used indiscriminately; alternatively, it can be used to affect a small area via quasi-grenade clumps that will burst on impact, but can be thrown distances as needed.
-Not a very powerful attack against most foes. Unlikely to do more than annoy Humans/Elves, for example. That said, its capacity of affecting a huge area relatively cheaply could inconvenience a decent-sized army with enough work…
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Shoot Spikes
-At what?
-This is limited to roughly 35 yards of range, at the absolute max. It can also be fired, fairly safely, inside the Forest itself.
-A decent attack; 50/50 shot of damaging a target typically. Designed for taking down animals, two-legs, monsters, and the like. Less effective against plants, but still works to a point.
-The ability to add metal-tips allows you to deal +50% damage to all targets.
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Laser Beam
-At what?
-This is limited to roughly 1000 yards of range (125 * (4 + count(Lens Trees) + count(Wise Trees)), but can manage a bit further with steadily worsening effectiveness. Anything close to the Speaking Tree (or another outlier Tree) is counted as somewhat closer range than it actually is.
-This attack functions with a base x3 damage (x1.5 from efficient attack; x2 from Light/Darkness Negacion), multiplicative to other effects. This attack has +1 accuracy within basic range, and an additional +1 accuracy within 1/4th of basic range.
-Any sun or light bonus or mallus will apply to this Attack. Collector Trees will also apply, if a Focus of the Forest action is used. This attack does not normally work at night.
-You can choose to convert Stored Resources to Laser Beam Dice at a 1:2 ratio. You may convert as many as desired, though a Forest Consensus will be required. This works at night, and ignores any Light bonuses or malluses.
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Blot Out The Sun
-What foe?
-This allows you to shroud any nearby enemies in partial - or complete, with enough successes - darkness. Thanks to your Light/Darkness Negacion skill, it will deal moderate damage even to, say, a Human army; additionally, it will resist supernatural sight. Additionally, it gets 2x damage (multiplicative with other modifiers) vs anything that needs Light (e.g. Vines).

[ ][Action] Light/Darkness Negacion
-What foe?
-Combine Light and Darkness, to attack your foes
-All damage doubled, stacking multiplicatively with other effects.
-This attack ignores most armor types and similar, and even has some ability to pierce Magic Resistance. Can only be resisted with Antimagic (though that isn't perfect) or resistance to Light/Darkness (or Light and Darkness).
-Tends to disrupt senses and info-gathering magic.

[ ][Action] Fuego! Pyrofuego! Burn!
-What?
-Set the vicinity on fire, and know that it is entirely your fault. Of course, this is also a highly-effective form of attack, despite being one of your personal nightmares. Extra-effective in times of drought - possibly horrifically so. Most effective vs plants, generally speaking.

[ ][Action] Icy Blast
-What?
-Freeze something. You have Ice Magic, after all! More effective when it's cold. Generally deals less damage than Light or Fire, but some enemies slow down when frozen.

[ ][Action] Ice/Fire Negacion
-What?
-Combine Ice and Fire, to attack your foes.
-All damage doubled, stacking multiplicatively with other effects.
-Will cheerfully function underwater, against Fire OR Ice Resistant foes (though not against foes resistant to BOTH Fire AND Ice), and so on.

[ ][Action] Rip and Tear
-What foe?
-This allows you to physically attack a foe. Ineffective against very fast enemies, but generally effective against Humans or anything slower. Very accurate against slower enemies. Ineffective against intangible or amorphous enemies.

[ ][Action] Telekinesis
-Telekinesis is, you will quickly find, much more effective at stopping or hindering foes than at hurting them, though you've been overcoming that recently.
-Deals only 0.7 damage per success, but deals 2.5 points of hindrance to your foes per success.
-If using TK from melee range, add +1 Accuracy. Max range is nearly a mile at this point.

Spoiler: Focus

Focus

Choose any four 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
[ ][Focus] Action Name x3
[ ][Focus] Action Name x4

These Actions will receive a number of automatic successes equal to the Magnitude of the Forest (currently 4) and any bonuses from other sources.

Spoiler: Format details

If you want to vote for the same action multiple times, the format is as follows:
[ ][Focus] Grow the Forest
[ ][Focus] Grow the Forest x2
…

If you want to vote for different actions, the format as as follows:
[ ][Focus] Grow the Forest
[ ][Focus] Ice/Fire Negacion
…

Automated Focus

Vote by plan; any plan needs at least 1/2 of the voters voting on AutoFocus(es) to agree on it, and any votes against an automated focus count as -1 voter agreeing on it. This can be changed whenever, but once set will just keep working until further notice.

This will automatically allocate one or more Focus Actions towards some specific, easily defined, sequence of actions. All such Focus Actions will receive a +25% bonus, multiplicative with all other modifiers. Something like "Always put 1 Focus Action towards the current Movement Research action, or finding a new one if need be" or "Always put all Focus Actions towards growing the max number of Lens Trees, then Grow the Forest; repeat forever."

The Automated Focus will be inoperative during Combat rounds; it only affects normal Turns. If something destroys the local symbiotic fungi, this feature will be lost.

A plan should look like:
[ ][AutoFocus] Growing Ents Focus
-[ ][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards the current Movement Research action (or finding a new one if need be)
-[ ][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards growing a Lens Tree, or if we've reached the cap, Growing the Forest

(Better plans can be devised. I'm just giving an example.)

Special Votes:
[ ][AutoFocus] None
(This adjusts any and all AutoFocus suggestions by -1 vote (total including the -0.5 to each plan from +1 to total-AutoFocus Votes). If an AutoFocus is in place, this will count as a vote to change the AutoFocus to None.)
[ ][AutoFocus] Any
(This counts as +1 vote to any suggested AutoFocus.)
[ ][AutoFocus] Retain
(This counts as a vote against changing your current AutoFocus, whatever that might be. The same rules as the None vote apply, with the amusing addition that this counts as a vote against None in the event of a Focus being in place.)

Spoiler: Allies

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

Deer Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add 4 successes (bonuses apply) to categories of his choice (typically Growth, but others may apply; things that are about to finish will be prioritized), UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Deer, by all means:
[ ][Deer] Explore the Plains
[ ][Deer] Explore the Path further South
[ ][Deer] Assist with <Action Name>
[ ][Deer] Lead a search-party in (write-in Direction)
[ ][Deer] Fight <Enemy>
[ ][Deer] Write-in

Mole Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add +25% bonus to whichever of Growth or Survival will better benefit, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Moles, by all means:
[ ][Moles] Build Tunnels (from where? To where?)
[ ][Moles] Widen the Cave Entrance (8 dice)
[ ][Moles] Mining for Linestone (8 dice)
[ ][Moles] Undermine Hostile Roots (which?)
[ ][Moles] Write-in

Beaver Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add +3 automatic successes (including bonuses) to upgrading a Special Tree, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Beavers, by all means:
[ ][Beavers] Chew Hostile Plants (which?)
[ ][Beavers] Explore Up/Down-stream
[ ][Beavers] Flood the Valley (why?)
[ ][Beavers] Write-in

Bee Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add +5 automatic successes across any combination of Research and Growth actions, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Bees, by all means:
[ ][Bees] Attack Enemy (which?)
-You lack sufficient bees to have more than 5+21.96=26.96 successes/turn (before multipliers).
-By using your superior intellect to carefully target weak points and time your attacks, this action gains bonuses from Wise and/or Clever Trees as if it were a Research action.
[ ][Bees] Search the Skies
-Bees see the world oddly, but reasonably well in their own way. You could search a great deal of your surroundings rapidly.
-The downside is that you would take some Bee losses to birds and such, unless you Trees put significant effort into defending them, that turn.
[ ][Bees] Search the Ground
-Bees' eyes are a masterpiece, capable of seeing effectively while moving faster than any other creature that you've encountered. They could search a good deal of terrain in fairly little time. While this wouldn't be as effective as asking them to search the skies, it would be considerably safer for them.
[ ][Bees] Write-in

Ant Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will reroll (keeping the best total result) your two most underperforming actions (that is, expected-successes minus actual-successes; this is targeting "the actions where Ants are most likely to make the biggest difference"), UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Ants, by all means:
[ ][Ants] Attack Enemy (which?)
[ ][Ants] Assist two specific Projects (which?)
-Grants rerolls to those specific projects; will grant extra rerolls and/or automatic successes if applied to a project with relatively few dice.
[ ][Ants] Keep our Creatures Clean
-Kills off pests (like ticks) that try to live on your Creatures. Unknown effects, but it would probably be appreciated at some point.
[ ][Ants] Keep our Village Clean
-Kills off pests that live in Newton Village. You should probably clear it with them first… Unknown effects, but it would maybe be appreciated at some point?
[ ][Ants] Death to Pests
-Applies a +25% Growth bonus for one turn.
[ ][Ants] Write-in

Wolf Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will have the Wolves add 4 successes across Communications projects, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Wolves, by all means:
[ ][Wolves] Attack Enemy (which?)
[ ][Wolves] Tracking
-Wolf noses are nothing to sneeze at. They can track a squirrel over bare rock for hours without issue. Anything that leaves scents can be hunted down and located, or even dragged back to the Forest, by the Wolves.
[ ][Wolves] Exploration <which direction?>
[ ][Wolves] Hunting Alone
[ ][Wolves] Hunting with Newton Village
[ ][Wolves] Write-in

Corvid Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will have the Corvids help the Forest improve its Weather Manipulation, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Corvids, by all means:
[ ][Corvids] Weather Analysis (9 dice)
[ ][Corvids] Scout (which direction?)
[ ][Corvids] Gossip with other Corvids (about what?)
[ ][Corvids] Invite immigrants
-If successful, permanently increase the effectiveness of your Corvids. May require the Forest to supply a steady supply of Resources to keep them fed, or risk them leaving again.
[ ][Corvids] Attack an Enemy
-Harassers, very intelligent harassers. Not frontline fighters. Could drop small things on enemy heads.
[ ][Corvids] Contribute to a project
-I'll decide how much progress they will make, depending on the Action, but generally 4-10 dice.
[ ][Corvids] Write-in

Bear Actions

Vote for an action for the Bears. They do not yet have a default action:
[ ][Bears] Scout (which direction?)
[ ][Bears] Portal hunt (which direction?)
[ ][Bears] Enhance Growth
-Grants +4 Growth successes, with Growth Modifiers taking effect, across various nearly-complete projects.
[ ][Bears] Attack an Enemy
-Surprisingly fast in bursts, and incredibly strong. Strong enough to wrestle with the smaller Trees and win!
[ ][Bears] Write-in

Dire Bat Actions

Locked in: Scouting.
GM will owe you an upgraded area map on turn 27.
Note that the Dire Bat is fairly weak physically on an objective scale, but still significantly tougher and stronger - if less nimble - than your Corvids. Only Monsters or those with Minds are likely to be a direct threat.

Lesser Wraith Actions

Vote for an action for the Lesser Wraith. It does not yet have a default action.
[ ][Lesser Wraith] Write-in

Lesser Fire Salamander

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will have the Lesser Fire Salamander teach Fire Magic to the Forest (+5 autosuccesses per turn) (after that, it will try learning Ice and Ice/Fire from you), UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Lesser Fire Salamander, by all means:
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Scout (which direction?)
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Attack an Enemy
-Not great in a straight fight, but lots and lots of Fire is enough to defeat a lot of foes.
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Warm Newton Village
-Makes sense in Winter, or the immediately adjacent Spring and Fall months.
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Burn Something (what?)
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Write-in

Speaker Actions

Vote for two actions for Ben and Betty Grimm, Speakers for the Forest. You may vote twice. By default (less than ¼ of Action votes), they will add a +50% bonus to the top 2 Actions in (Communication OR Research OR Survival). They also typically do some personal training and keep up with their chores around Newton Village - even with Magic, the farmer's life is still a lot of work. But you can always specify a project:
[ ][Speaker] Represent the Forest
-To some Humans or Elves, presumably? If so, which? Also, if it's anyone a ways away, you should probably give them some adult guards (or a Bear or three?)...
[ ][Speaker] Further Focus
-They can effectively give the Forest +1 Focus action, by personal effort plus directing the many less-awake Trees that make up the bulk of the Forest.
[ ][Speaker] Personal Training: (what?)
-You can ask them to fully focus on improving one of their own abilities… potentially even things they're not thrilled to have to practice ("like Math" -Betty; "like Fashion" -Ben; "ugh" -both).
[ ][Speaker] Magically Assist Newton Village
-Help the Village. This would be appreciated if the Village were in a time of great need (and the need wasn't, for example, Defense or Food such that the Forest could better supply the result directly), but nobody expects this on a regular basis.
[ ][Speaker] Write-in

Herbalist

Marta Yarrow the Herbalist is currently obsessed with understanding how you Trees grow, and will contribute 10 auto-successes to Analyze Special Tree Growth until it is done.
Extraordinary events may slightly reduce this bonus.
You should be able to ask her to help with specific projects afterwards. Unless she decides to obsess on one project again…

Spoiler: Special Votes

How do you want TreeQuest to format the Vote Categories and Spoilers?
[ ][Format] No Spoilers
[ ][Format] Two Big Spoilers (Actions plus Focus, Allies)
[ ][Format] One Spoiler per Bolded Category

A group of Lumberjacks are heading towards The Forest, from Andrewsburg. They are explicitly intending to "Steal valuables from the Mage who created that fancy wood." They are weak compared to the Forest, but not to the point that you can just ignore them… or can you?
[ ][Lumberjacks] Try to talk them out of it - divulge your sapience, appeal to their better instincts… and offer them a trade.
[ ][Lumberjacks] Call in a favor from Newton Village to handle them.
[ ][Lumberjacks] Put up a Shield and let them bounce off of it. (If they ever find you past the still-active Empty Veil.)
[ ][Lumberjacks] Have an army of Magic Squirrels defeat them. (Generally, confuse and annoy them until they leave.)
[ ][Lumberjacks] Fight them.
-[ ][Lumberjacks] Spare as many as you can.
-[ ][Lumberjacks] Leave no witnesses.

If the top-winning selection fails, the Forest will default to the second-favorite option, and so on. The Forest will not be obviously stupid, unless you get a truly terrible common-sense roll.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Actions: Communication

Communication:
Note: A fantastic insight grants you +5% on all Communication actions. The Speaking Tree in Newton Village grants you +10% on all Communication actions, and an additional +10% when interacting with Minds. The Sensing Trees grant +5% each on all Communication actions, and reduce range penalties when present. The Speakers for the Forest (Ben and Betty Grimm) each grant +10% to all Communication actions, and an additional +5% with Two-Legs. Total: +45% base, +20% extra with Minds.

[ ][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.
-This ignores Newton Village and the people thereof.

[ ][Action] Connect to Local Wildlife (Psychic)
-Bears - heavy combat? Birds - scouts? Worms - growth bonus? 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 can easily target specific classes of animals.
-Anything that Newton Village is familiar with is discounted 50% in difficulty due to them helping you understand the creatures.
-Monsters are harder to reach than normal animals. If you want to grab a specific monster, have your animals locate it first.
-12.22 unspecified successes banked.
-1.25 of ??? successes towards Birds of Prey (will resolve to something more specific).
-240 out of -9876543.21 successes towards Shadow Spinners

[ ][Action] Incorporated Growth
-The Forest has done extensive Research on merging other Trees with the Forest. But the Communication-specialists haven't fully attuned to this project.
-When completed, Growth Incorporated (Grow the Forest automatic successes per turn) will gain a bonus equal to 10% of the Forest's Specialized Dice in Communication (currently 70*10%=7).
-0 of 42 successes

Spoiler: Actions: Research

Research:
Note: Your Wise Trees grant you +50% on Research actions. Your Laser Computer grants you +20% on Research actions, and a +15% extra bonus when Overcharged (consuming 4 Resources per turn).
Focus: Any Focus action directed towards Research gains +6 auto-successes from Clever Trees.
(Destructive Testing: If you have access to an enemy and wish to perform destructive testing, vote for the Research action as usual but put in a subvote on the next line like "-[X] Destructive Testing on <Enemy>". This will neither help nor hinder the Research, but may cause a bit of bonus damage to the enemy. This will be limited to combinations that make sense.)

Currently locked: Research Elder Sensing Trees (Magic Biology Research). The Forest will need to - at minimum - spend a year or so using the current Sensing Trees OR invent multiple interesting new methods of sensing, before making significant upgrades.
-0 of 5 successes per category; enables upgrading one type of Special Tree to Elder Special Tree

[ ][Action] Research Ancient Shield Trees (Magic Biology Research)
[ ][Action] Research Ancient Void Trees (Magic Biology Research)
-Further options will unlock when you grow at least one Elder of that type
-0 of 10 successes per category; enables upgrading one type of Elder Special Tree to Ancient Special Tree

Locked: Water/Fire Negacion (Magic Research) - needs Water to Competent first.

[ ][Action] Water Lot of Fun (Magic Research)
-It's been suggested that we combine Water and Fire, but we must first learn Water.
-Rewards: Water Magic to Competent; probably other effects; at least one Beaver will likely gain Water Magic.
-Bonus of +25% from prior experience with Water (particularly the Beavers' experience).
-1.9 of 28 successes

[ ][Action] Research Vine Shield-Piercing (Magic Research)
-The Vines were able to pierce through our best Shields. It was a lot of work for them, yes, but they still could. See if we can recreate this effect - possibly with the captured Vine seedlings - and see if we can learn anything from it.
-Should grant an option to half attack-power in exchange for dividing enemy Shield effectiveness by 8 against your Magical attacks. Should upgrade the Forest's Shields to better resist Shield-piercing or -draining effects.
-Concentrating Magic - both Power and Intent - very densely seems to have been involved, as does picking certain Magic Elements (Malice itself, but Death seems to work adequately) that would tend to counter Protection/Defense.
-29.59 of 40 successes

[ ][Action] Analyze Mundane Movement (Biology Research) (Movement Research)
-Your Trees can move around with Magic, with some effort. But how does non-Magical, Mundane, Movement work? If you can carefully tweak your own bodies in the right ways, you should be able to get significantly better results with the Movement Magic that you have. Plus, studying Movement is a good way to grow your Movement Magic, to prepare for the next step there.
-Bonus of +25% from Vine Growth.
-40.96 of 55 successes

[ ][Action] Analyze Special Tree Growth
-The Sensing Trees have collected quite a bit of data on how the Forest Grows Trees, particularly Special Trees. Sort through that data, and try running some experiments, to see if we can develop more insights on Growing Special Trees, or potentially even Growth itself.
-This will gain 10 automatic successes (with bonuses) per turn from the Herbalist until completed.
-29.61 of 65 successes

[ ][Action] Hevel
-You have some familiarity with Steam and Vapor; time to study them further.
-This should boost the Weather Trees noticeably, as well as increasing your Steam Magic to Competent.
-2.4 of 30 successes

[ ][Action] Weather Analysis
-The Corvids have long understood Thermals, large columns of rising air that (among other things) tend to create clouds. They would like to work with the Forest to analyze Weather from multiple points of view at once, and believe that the Forest's Weather manipulation and Weather Magic will both gain a bonus from doing so.
-17.34 of 30 successes

[ ][Action] Monster Energy (Magic Biology Research) (Biology Research) (Magic) (Magic Research)
-See if you can get the Sensing Trees to detect the source of Monster Energy. If so, you'll get the ability to detect Monsters, through virtually any stealth, at quite some range…
-And if you can detect it reliably, why not go further and research it, too!
-This gains +10% from the Dire Bat, +20% from the Lesser Fire Salamander, and +30% from the Lesser Wraith. +60% cumulative.
-7.16 of 35/??? successes

[ ][Action] Void Forest (Magic) (Void)
-Your Elder Empty Tree needs to be defended. But it seems to exist in an undetectable world adjacent(?) to ordinary space. Of course, this particular challenge is also a potential opportunity: a way to Grow somewhere that the majority of your current foes probably can't easily access, and might or might not even know exists.
-This will require use of Void Magic.
-This has a +25% bonus from Ben Grimm's brainstorming. Any Empty Veil overflow will contribute half (with Empty Veil modifiers) to this action.
-13.95 of ??? successes

[ ][Action] Lethal Pollen (Magic Biology Research)
-The Forest has a rough theory on creating an Annoying Pollen variant capable of clogging any breathing-Creature's airways across about ten to twenty minutes.
-This would produce an indiscriminate - but tremendously-effective - anti-army attack.
-This upgrade could, of course, be turned back off (or deliberately weakened) as desired.
-0 of 15 successes

[ ][Action] Magic-Drain
-The Lesser Wraith steals its Magic and Energy from others. While you probably won't be able to gain the same effectiveness it has (or at least not easily), it would only make sense to try to replicate the ability.
-Adds a new attack, which probably won't be super-effective but any success should grant free successes-or-dice to other attacks (for instance Laser). Adds a new enchanting option, to make an enchantment draw from enemies. Unlocks options for trying to buff the shield to steal Magic from anything attacking it.
-0 of 30 successes

[ ][Action] Magical Construct Analysis
-The Lesser Wraith is a life-form made entirely of Magic. While it is fairly complex, managing a simpler version shouldn't be that hard.
-Adds an option for sending a packet of energy to act as a very-long-range spell. Enables homing spells (without the Forest specifically controlling them). Enables Spells that perform basic logic without further commands on the Forest's part. Unlocks a new project to learn to create a Creature of Magic - a less energy-intensive Magical assistant commonly created and used by skilled Mages.
-6.59 of 40 successes

[ ][Action] Life Indeed (Magic Biology Research)
-Arthur Scrat has set you on the path of gaining Life Magic. You Live already, and are quite familiar with Life, but you'd like to also teach your Creatures…
-This will improve the Forest to Competent level, and teach the majority of your Creatures the basics of at least one Magic Element (typically Life).
-This gets a +30% bonus, and 1 free auto-success per turn, from your various Creatures studying this Magic on their own time. This gets a +10% bonus, and a 2nd free auto-success per turn, from Betty Grimm's study of Life Magic. This gets a +15% bonus (plus Creatures will often gain other Magics instead or in addition to Life) from your understanding of the process of gaining Magic. Cumulative: 2 auto-successes and +55% bonus.
-27.78 of 50 successes

[ ][Action] Burninator
-The Lesser Fire Salamander has Fire at (effectively) the Expert level. The Forest is only Competent, but could definitely learn to Journeyman (Journeyforest?) rank.
-Double all successes from the Lesser Fire Salamander (a fully-dedicated Connected Teacher two ranks above you), plus the odd bit of tutoring from Old Man Materson.
-This gains +0.3x2=+0.6 successes per success at Fuego! Pyrofuego! Burn!
-51.5 of 150 successes

[ ][Action] Flesh, Not of My Flesh (Magic Biology Research)
-Study Flesh, all the squishy squicky bits of all Animals. This includes muscles and ligaments and tendons and organs… and pretty much everything except Bone (and arguably skin, and probably hair and nails/claws?).
-This will raise your Flesh Magic rank to Competent. That will probably not benefit the Forest itself - aside from unlocking new projects and assisting Movement Research - but will benefit the Forest's Creatures (and Newton Village etc.) instead.
-This gets a +50% bonus from studying your Creatures plus Newton Village.
-11.18 of 50 successes

[ ][Action] Incorporate Plant <plant>
-Incorporate a plant into the Forest, at least enough to learn something from it.
-0 of 15 successes - Aranion - mostly-mundane Healing (Mammals)
-0 of 15 successes - Dandelions - permanent +5% to Grow The Forest
-0 of 15 successes - Poison Ivy - Annoying Pollen 3x effect, Lethal Pollen 1.5x effect
-Feel free to suggest other options! There are a lot of good possibilities, though few massive gamechangers, and I'll add anything approved to this list.

Spoiler: Actions: Survival

Survival:
Note: Manipulating the tiny bits of Fire Within every living thing grants +25% to all Survival successes. The Elder Lens Tree grants +10% to all Survival successes.

[ ][Action] Store Resources Against Future Need
-This has a +20% bonus from Technology: Farming, a +15% bonus from Vine Growth research, a +10% bonus from Managed Mycelium, and a +5% bonus from Earth Magic. Total +50%.
-Creatures may cost Resources to upkeep (in winter); Monsters usually do. Your Dire Bat costs 1 Resource per turn in Winter and can otherwise feed itself. Your Lesser Wraith costs 2 Resources per turn. Your Lesser Fire Salamander costs 1 Resource per turn except in fall (leaves!).
-191.3 stored; this will function as a spare HP pool against anything that gets through your Defense, and may be useful for other things.
-Limit of 50*(Magnitude^2). Currently 800. You may never reach the limit, but it does exist.

[ ][Action] Mining
-Dig up some Linestone for Newton Village. They owe us a Favor for every 5 successes.
-Metalworking grants +15% to all successes. Earth Magic Novice grants +15% to all successes.
-This may receive bonus successes if Let It Rain helps Newton Village through a drought (note: this usually only applies in the summer).
-3.38 of 5 successes and 4 Favors banked.

[ ][Action] Feed the Swarm (Bees)
-Every success will permanently add 1 to the maximum number of Bee Attack Successes per turn. I'm not sure why you would want more than 20 or 30 total, at least not until the Forest gets massive, but there aren't any currently-known limits on how many times you can succeed at this action.

[ ][Action] Rain and Shine
-Each time completed, grants a 1-turn +10% bonus to all Growth Successes for that turn. Costs 4 Successes (one per Magnitude of the Forest); these successes can be saved from turn to turn. Every Weather Tree (currently 1) grants +1 to this each turn.
-2.04 of 4 successes

Unavailable - severe droughts not anticipated this autumn - Let it Rain
-Grants a 1-turn +10% bonus to all Growth Successes for that turn. Can be taken multiple times, up until it fully cancels out the Drought penalty. Costs 4 Successes (one per Magnitude of the Forest); these successes can only be saved from turn to turn if a drought is ongoing, though excess will be directed elsewhere. Every Weather Tree (currently 1) grants +1 to this each turn.
-0 of 4 successes (including the Weather Tree)

Grow Unusual Lumber
-Automatically happens.
-You could contribute, though at this point the Unusual Lumber Tree will probably generate as much as you can store and sell. It generates (1 + 10% of the Active Specialized Survival Dice) Unusual Lumber, per turn, modified only by Tall Tree bonuses.
-12.67 of max=50 successes

Spoiler: Actions: Defense

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 about 12.9 (depends on Active Player Trees) automatic successes from Shield Trees. Gains +60% to all successes.

[ ][Action] Empty Veil (Void)
-Magically convince the general vicinity that you, the Forest, are not present.
-Now that you have at least one Elder Void Tree, this action seems to dampen attempts to magically analyze the Forest within, as well as slightly reducing the effectiveness of mental assaults.
-Currently requires 5 successes to activate (this will grow with Forest Magnitude). Lasts for 1 round, and gives all foes -1 to-hit against the Forest.
-Each Empty Tree gives an automatic +1 per round (if at least one Player Action or Forest Focus is on Empty Veil) toward this action (successes can be stored within a single fight or turn but not from turn to turn). Any successes that stand to be lost (end of combat, overflow, or Shield-but-not-Veil active) will be applied as 0.75 Shield successes each (from making the Shield and Forest both harder to hit).
-The Elder Empty Tree grants 1.1*1.03 * (1+3.3) <5 successes per turn, so this does not automatically succeed every turn. That said, if at least one player votes for it, the normal Empty Tree will activate, and it will auto-succeed.
-0 of 5 successes

[ ][Action] Stockpile Thorns
-Successes stockpile up to 10 times the Magnitude of the Forest. These will automatically damage hostile intruders that enter the Forest.
-31.96 of 40 stockpiled.

Spoiler: Actions: Growth

Growth:
Note: Your Lens Trees grant you +77.5% to Growth.
(Dam: +20% Growth to offset drought penalties for the first turn of any drought; we expect this to become less effective as the Magnitude of the Forest grows (Magnitude 5 will reduce the effectiveness somewhat; further Magnitudes unknown).)
Focus: Any Focus action directed towards Growth gains +4 auto-successes from Collector Trees.

[ ][Action] Grow the Forest
-The opportunity to grow into the charred clearing, where once the Evil Vines ruled, grants +25% to Grow the Forest until Magnitude 6. Cultivated Surroundings grant a +25% bonus to Grow the Forest until Magnitude 7.
-This has 5 autosuccesses per turn from Growth Incorporated, with modifiers as a Communication action.
-27.71 of 130 successes to Magnitude 5

[ ][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.
-Shore Up Creek Banks: Grants a +25% bonus AND halves any Drought penalties, when Growing any Special Trees, until we have 30 Special Trees total (includes Speaker and Mining Trees).
-3.9 of 12 successes banked on Sensing Tree

[ ][Action] Upgrade <Treename>
-Replace <Treename> with the name of a Special Tree from the Front Page. Variable cost.
-This will upgrade a normal Special Tree to an Elder of its same type, or (when unlocked) an Elder Special Tree to an Ancient of its same type.
-8.85 of 30 successes to Upgrade Lens Tree to Elder.

[ ][Action] Widen the Cave Entrance
-Grow Roots to widen and shore up the Cave Entrance, so you can get more than just Squirrels and Moles down there.
-Your Connection fades as your Creatures delve downwards - you suspect Voidshards and/or Voidshard Dust, but have no confirmation.
-Taking place underground, this ignores light bonuses and malluses.
-9.8 of 15 successes

Spoiler: Actions: Offense

Offense:
Note: Study of Death Magic grants +10% to all Offense successes.

[ ][Action] Release Annoying Pollen
-Any particular target? It can be used indiscriminately; alternatively, it can be used to affect a small area via quasi-grenade clumps that will burst on impact, but can be thrown distances as needed.
-Not a very powerful attack against most foes. Unlikely to do more than annoy Humans/Elves, for example. That said, its capacity of affecting a huge area relatively cheaply could inconvenience a decent-sized army with enough work…
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Shoot Spikes
-At what?
-This is limited to roughly 35 yards of range, at the absolute max. It can also be fired, fairly safely, inside the Forest itself.
-A decent attack; 50/50 shot of damaging a target typically. Designed for taking down animals, two-legs, monsters, and the like. Less effective against plants, but still works to a point.
-The ability to add metal-tips allows you to deal +50% damage to all targets.
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Laser Beam
-At what?
-This is limited to roughly 1000 yards of range (125 * (4 + count(Lens Trees) + count(Wise Trees)), but can manage a bit further with steadily worsening effectiveness. Anything close to the Speaking Tree (or another outlier Tree) is counted as somewhat closer range than it actually is.
-This attack functions with a base x3 damage (x1.5 from efficient attack; x2 from Light/Darkness Negacion), multiplicative to other effects. This attack has +1 accuracy within basic range, and an additional +1 accuracy within 1/4th of basic range.
-Any sun or light bonus or mallus will apply to this Attack. Collector Trees will also apply, if a Focus of the Forest action is used. This attack does not normally work at night.
-You can choose to convert Stored Resources to Laser Beam Dice at a 1:2 ratio. You may convert as many as desired, though a Forest Consensus will be required. This works at night, and ignores any Light bonuses or malluses.
-Like most attacks, this does little to nothing if you have no nearby enemies.

[ ][Action] Blot Out The Sun
-What foe?
-This allows you to shroud any nearby enemies in partial - or complete, with enough successes - darkness. Thanks to your Light/Darkness Negacion skill, it will deal moderate damage even to, say, a Human army; additionally, it will resist supernatural sight. Additionally, it gets 2x damage (multiplicative with other modifiers) vs anything that needs Light (e.g. Vines).

[ ][Action] Light/Darkness Negacion
-What foe?
-Combine Light and Darkness, to attack your foes
-All damage doubled, stacking multiplicatively with other effects.
-This attack ignores most armor types and similar, and even has some ability to pierce Magic Resistance. Can only be resisted with Antimagic (though that isn't perfect) or resistance to Light/Darkness (or Light and Darkness).
-Tends to disrupt senses and info-gathering magic.

[ ][Action] Fuego! Pyrofuego! Burn!
-What?
-Set the vicinity on fire, and know that it is entirely your fault. Of course, this is also a highly-effective form of attack, despite being one of your personal nightmares. Extra-effective in times of drought - possibly horrifically so. Most effective vs plants, generally speaking.

[ ][Action] Icy Blast
-What?
-Freeze something. You have Ice Magic, after all! More effective when it's cold. Generally deals less damage than Light or Fire, but some enemies slow down when frozen.

[ ][Action] Ice/Fire Negacion
-What?
-Combine Ice and Fire, to attack your foes.
-All damage doubled, stacking multiplicatively with other effects.
-Will cheerfully function underwater, against Fire OR Ice Resistant foes (though not against foes resistant to BOTH Fire AND Ice), and so on.

[ ][Action] Rip and Tear
-What foe?
-This allows you to physically attack a foe. Ineffective against very fast enemies, but generally effective against Humans or anything slower. Very accurate against slower enemies. Ineffective against intangible or amorphous enemies.

[ ][Action] Telekinesis
-Telekinesis is, you will quickly find, much more effective at stopping or hindering foes than at hurting them, though you've been overcoming that recently.
-Deals only 0.7 damage per success, but deals 2.5 points of hindrance to your foes per success.
-If using TK from melee range, add +1 Accuracy. Max range is nearly a mile at this point.

Spoiler: Focus

Focus

Choose any four 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
[ ][Focus] Action Name x3
[ ][Focus] Action Name x4

These Actions will receive a number of automatic successes equal to the Magnitude of the Forest (currently 4) and any bonuses from other sources.

Spoiler: Format details

If you want to vote for the same action multiple times, the format is as follows:
[ ][Focus] Grow the Forest
[ ][Focus] Grow the Forest x2
…

If you want to vote for different actions, the format as as follows:
[ ][Focus] Grow the Forest
[ ][Focus] Ice/Fire Negacion
…

Automated Focus

Vote by plan; any plan needs at least 1/2 of the voters voting on AutoFocus(es) to agree on it, and any votes against an automated focus count as -1 voter agreeing on it. This can be changed whenever, but once set will just keep working until further notice.

This will automatically allocate one or more Focus Actions towards some specific, easily defined, sequence of actions. All such Focus Actions will receive a +25% bonus, multiplicative with all other modifiers. Something like "Always put 1 Focus Action towards the current Movement Research action, or finding a new one if need be" or "Always put all Focus Actions towards growing the max number of Lens Trees, then Grow the Forest; repeat forever."

The Automated Focus will be inoperative during Combat rounds; it only affects normal Turns. If something destroys the local symbiotic fungi, this feature will be lost.

A plan should look like:
[ ][AutoFocus] Growing Ents Focus
-[ ][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards the current Movement Research action (or finding a new one if need be)
-[ ][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards growing a Lens Tree, or if we've reached the cap, Growing the Forest

(Better plans can be devised. I'm just giving an example.)

Special Votes:
[ ][AutoFocus] None
(This adjusts any and all AutoFocus suggestions by -1 vote (total including the -0.5 to each plan from +1 to total-AutoFocus Votes). If an AutoFocus is in place, this will count as a vote to change the AutoFocus to None.)
[ ][AutoFocus] Any
(This counts as +1 vote to any suggested AutoFocus.)
[ ][AutoFocus] Retain
(This counts as a vote against changing your current AutoFocus, whatever that might be. The same rules as the None vote apply, with the amusing addition that this counts as a vote against None in the event of a Focus being in place.)

Spoiler: Allies

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

Deer Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add 4 successes (bonuses apply) to categories of his choice (typically Growth, but others may apply; things that are about to finish will be prioritized), UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Deer, by all means:
[ ][Deer] Explore the Plains
[ ][Deer] Explore the Path further South
[ ][Deer] Assist with <Action Name>
[ ][Deer] Lead a search-party in (write-in Direction)
[ ][Deer] Fight <Enemy>
[ ][Deer] Write-in

Mole Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add +25% bonus to whichever of Growth or Survival will better benefit, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Moles, by all means:
[ ][Moles] Build Tunnels (from where? To where?)
[ ][Moles] Widen the Cave Entrance (8 dice)
[ ][Moles] Mining for Linestone (8 dice)
[ ][Moles] Undermine Hostile Roots (which?)
[ ][Moles] Write-in

Beaver Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add +3 automatic successes (including bonuses) to upgrading a Special Tree, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Beavers, by all means:
[ ][Beavers] Chew Hostile Plants (which?)
[ ][Beavers] Explore Up/Down-stream
[ ][Beavers] Flood the Valley (why?)
[ ][Beavers] Write-in

Bee Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will add +5 automatic successes across any combination of Research and Growth actions, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Bees, by all means:
[ ][Bees] Attack Enemy (which?)
-You lack sufficient bees to have more than 5+21.96=26.96 successes/turn (before multipliers).
-By using your superior intellect to carefully target weak points and time your attacks, this action gains bonuses from Wise and/or Clever Trees as if it were a Research action.
[ ][Bees] Search the Skies
-Bees see the world oddly, but reasonably well in their own way. You could search a great deal of your surroundings rapidly.
-The downside is that you would take some Bee losses to birds and such, unless you Trees put significant effort into defending them, that turn.
[ ][Bees] Search the Ground
-Bees' eyes are a masterpiece, capable of seeing effectively while moving faster than any other creature that you've encountered. They could search a good deal of terrain in fairly little time. While this wouldn't be as effective as asking them to search the skies, it would be considerably safer for them.
[ ][Bees] Write-in

Ant Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will reroll (keeping the best total result) your two most underperforming actions (that is, expected-successes minus actual-successes; this is targeting "the actions where Ants are most likely to make the biggest difference"), UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Ants, by all means:
[ ][Ants] Attack Enemy (which?)
[ ][Ants] Assist two specific Projects (which?)
-Grants rerolls to those specific projects; will grant extra rerolls and/or automatic successes if applied to a project with relatively few dice.
[ ][Ants] Keep our Creatures Clean
-Kills off pests (like ticks) that try to live on your Creatures. Unknown effects, but it would probably be appreciated at some point.
[ ][Ants] Keep our Village Clean
-Kills off pests that live in Newton Village. You should probably clear it with them first… Unknown effects, but it would maybe be appreciated at some point?
[ ][Ants] Death to Pests
-Applies a +25% Growth bonus for one turn.
[ ][Ants] Write-in

Wolf Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will have the Wolves add 4 successes across Communications projects, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Wolves, by all means:
[ ][Wolves] Attack Enemy (which?)
[ ][Wolves] Tracking
-Wolf noses are nothing to sneeze at. They can track a squirrel over bare rock for hours without issue. Anything that leaves scents can be hunted down and located, or even dragged back to the Forest, by the Wolves.
[ ][Wolves] Exploration <which direction?>
[ ][Wolves] Hunting Alone
[ ][Wolves] Hunting with Newton Village
[ ][Wolves] Write-in

Corvid Actions

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will have the Corvids help the Forest improve its Weather Manipulation, UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Corvids, by all means:
[ ][Corvids] Weather Analysis (9 dice)
[ ][Corvids] Scout (which direction?)
[ ][Corvids] Gossip with other Corvids (about what?)
[ ][Corvids] Invite immigrants
-If successful, permanently increase the effectiveness of your Corvids. May require the Forest to supply a steady supply of Resources to keep them fed, or risk them leaving again.
[ ][Corvids] Attack an Enemy
-Harassers, very intelligent harassers. Not frontline fighters. Could drop small things on enemy heads.
[ ][Corvids] Contribute to a project
-I'll decide how much progress they will make, depending on the Action, but generally 4-10 dice.
[ ][Corvids] Write-in

Bear Actions

Vote for an action for the Bears. They do not yet have a default action:
[ ][Bears] Scout (which direction?)
[ ][Bears] Portal hunt (which direction?)
[ ][Bears] Enhance Growth
-Grants +4 Growth successes, with Growth Modifiers taking effect, across various nearly-complete projects.
[ ][Bears] Attack an Enemy
-Surprisingly fast in bursts, and incredibly strong. Strong enough to wrestle with the smaller Trees and win!
[ ][Bears] Write-in

Dire Bat Actions

Locked in: Scouting.
GM will owe you an upgraded area map on turn 27.
Note that the Dire Bat is fairly weak physically on an objective scale, but still significantly tougher and stronger - if less nimble - than your Corvids. Only Monsters or those with Minds are likely to be a direct threat.

Lesser Wraith Actions

Vote for an action for the Lesser Wraith. It does not yet have a default action.
[ ][Lesser Wraith] Write-in

Lesser Fire Salamander

This vote will be IGNORED, and the GM will have the Lesser Fire Salamander teach Fire Magic to the Forest (+5 autosuccesses per turn) (after that, it will try learning Ice and Ice/Fire from you), UNLESS at least ¼ of the voters place a vote in this category. That said, if you have a special mission for the Lesser Fire Salamander, by all means:
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Scout (which direction?)
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Attack an Enemy
-Not great in a straight fight, but lots and lots of Fire is enough to defeat a lot of foes.
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Warm Newton Village
-Makes sense in Winter, or the immediately adjacent Spring and Fall months.
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Burn Something (what?)
[ ][Lesser Fire Salamander] Write-in

Speaker Actions

Vote for two actions for Ben and Betty Grimm, Speakers for the Forest. You may vote twice. By default (less than ¼ of Action votes), they will add a +50% bonus to the top 2 Actions in (Communication OR Research OR Survival). They also typically do some personal training and keep up with their chores around Newton Village - even with Magic, the farmer's life is still a lot of work. But you can always specify a project:
[ ][Speaker] Represent the Forest
-To some Humans or Elves, presumably? If so, which? Also, if it's anyone a ways away, you should probably give them some adult guards (or a Bear or three?)...
[ ][Speaker] Further Focus
-They can effectively give the Forest +1 Focus action, by personal effort plus directing the many less-awake Trees that make up the bulk of the Forest.
[ ][Speaker] Personal Training: (what?)
-You can ask them to fully focus on improving one of their own abilities… potentially even things they're not thrilled to have to practice ("like Math" -Betty; "like Fashion" -Ben; "ugh" -both).
[ ][Speaker] Magically Assist Newton Village
-Help the Village. This would be appreciated if the Village were in a time of great need (and the need wasn't, for example, Defense or Food such that the Forest could better supply the result directly), but nobody expects this on a regular basis.
[ ][Speaker] Write-in

Herbalist

Marta Yarrow the Herbalist is currently obsessed with understanding how you Trees grow, and will contribute 10 auto-successes to Analyze Special Tree Growth until it is done.
Extraordinary events may slightly reduce this bonus.
You should be able to ask her to help with specific projects afterwards. Unless she decides to obsess on one project again…

Spoiler: Special Votes

How do you want TreeQuest to format the Vote Categories and Spoilers?
[ ][Format] No Spoilers
[ ][Format] Two Big Spoilers (Actions plus Focus, Allies)
[ ][Format] One Spoiler per Bolded Category

A group of Lumberjacks are heading towards The Forest, from Andrewsburg. They are explicitly intending to "Steal valuables from the Mage who created that fancy wood." They are weak compared to the Forest, but not to the point that you can just ignore them… or can you?
[ ][Lumberjacks] Try to talk them out of it - divulge your sapience, appeal to their better instincts… and offer them a trade.
[ ][Lumberjacks] Call in a favor from Newton Village to handle them.
[ ][Lumberjacks] Put up a Shield and let them bounce off of it. (If they ever find you past the still-active Empty Veil.)
[ ][Lumberjacks] Have an army of Magic Squirrels defeat them. (Generally, confuse and annoy them until they leave.)
[ ][Lumberjacks] Fight them.
-[ ][Lumberjacks] Spare as many as you can.
-[ ][Lumberjacks] Leave no witnesses.

If the top-winning selection fails, the Forest will default to the second-favorite option, and so on. The Forest will not be obviously stupid, unless you get a truly terrible common-sense roll.

Click to shrink...

[][AutoFocus] Tree Maintenance
-[][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards growing a Lens Tree until completion and then a Wise Tree until we've reached the cap for both

Click to shrink...

Would you be ok with this instead?:
[][AutoFocus] Maintenance
-[][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards upgrading 1 Weather Tree to elder, then growing a Lens Tree until completion and then a Wise Tree until we've reached the cap for both
-[][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards Burninator, after that put 1 Focus Action towards Salamander learning Fire/Ice negacion
<edit> replaced by newer version in my action vote post</edit>
Weather Tree helps with dealing with weather bullshit and allows us to use weather in combat. (Always try to get a new ace up the sleeve before our foe attacks again with preparations against all our aces they have already seen!).
Burninator helps us get fire up, after which we can help them learn Fire/Ice which helps our salamander friend not suffer during winter.


@Robinton
When will the next Wintersolstice festivities be? If i want to do something before then, how many actions do i have?

 

[ACON]

[X][Action] Water Lot of Fun (Magic Research)

 

[Forgothrax]

[X][Action] Widen the Cave Entrance

 

[Sir Plusse]

Okay, got a minute to vote now. Let's see...

[X][Action] Empty Veil (Void)
[X][Focus] Burninator
[X][Focus] Magic-Drain
[X][Focus] Monster Energy
[X][Focus] Life Indeed (Magic Biology Research)
[X][AutoFocus] Spectral Researcher
-[X] Apply 1 Focus per turn to researching the Lesser Wraith until all related projects are complete, prioritizing whichever is closest to completion.
[X][Squirrel] Life Indeed
[X][Lesser Wraith] Assist with Monster Energy
[X][Lumberjacks] Put up a Shield and let them bounce off of it. (If they ever find you past the still-active Empty Veil.)
[X][Bears] Enhance Growth

Was tempted to work on Burninator (whether via practice or direct research), but I'd rather keep our Empty Veil working. I'm sure Box'll work on it too, but since the overflow will go to Void Forest anyway (albeit halved) I might as well pitch in. It's not like I'd really lose anything overall, either, since my Defense is twice my Research.

 

[Angelform]

snip

Click to shrink...

So… it seems that we accidentality colonised Talanburg. Awkward.

If the Forest had one or more Trees skilled in Communication focusing on Connecting across the distance, Communication would likely span a significantly longer range…

Click to shrink...

Fairly blatant call for a write-in. Alas we have many other things demanding our attention.

[X][Action] Reach Out to Minds (Psychic) (Talanburg)
Best to try and sort this out before it decides to become a problem.

[X][Format] One Spoiler per Bolded Category
Ease of use.

[X][Lumberjacks] Call in a favor from Newton Village to handle them.
[X][Lumberjacks] Put up a Shield and let them bounce off of it. (If they ever find you past the still-active Empty Veil.)
[X][Lumberjacks] Have an army of Magic Squirrels defeat them. (Generally, confuse and annoy them until they leave.)
As this is a communal action I think we can do approval voting? I don't want to resort to violence as yet, but nor do I want to negotiate with self-describing thieves as a first response. The traders came in good faith and left with goods. These gits came with sinister intent and will leave with nothing.

So, serious question: Should I introduce myself, or the whole forest, to the Thinking Ants? I don't want to break stealth unilaterally, since they're close enough they could actually affect us, or could start telling other people about the Forest. This should be something the rest of you get input on, even if you can't directly help.

Click to shrink...

On the one branch, you do you.
On the other, we have quite a few potential issues on the horizon. Opening up diplomatic relations with a major (regional?) power would be stretching us even thinner. Plus we now know that if a comms tree or two puts their action in we can likely maintain contact at that distance so a future expedition with a bit more support would be easier.

 

[SeaTheTree]

[X][Lumberjacks] Call in a favor from Newton Village to handle them.

Click to shrink...

Im worried that since half of them are willing to kill to get the rare wood and since they have 3 mages, it would be dangerous to ask the village to drive them away, maybe we can inform the village of these intruders and ask whether they would be able to handle them?

Also i wonder how many pursuers there are for the next intruders?

 

[Sir Plusse]

Im worried that since half of them are willing to kill to get the rare wood and since they have 3 mages, it would be dangerous to ask the village to drive them away, maybe we can inform the village of these intruders and ask whether they would be able to handle them?

Click to shrink...

...All of a sudden I'm remembering my previous concerns about evil-aligned lumberjacks, and wondering if I predicted this or just gave Robinton ideas.

I mean, thieves are petty evil, but still evil, right? And having three potential murderers definitely makes them evil.

 

[Aerrow Shadow]

[X][Action] Research Vine Shield-Piercing (Magic Research)

 

[SeaTheTree]

I mean, thieves are petty evil, but still evil, right? And having three potential murderers definitely makes them evil.

Click to shrink...

I wonder if they are working alone or under somebody? There seems to be a lot of invaders coming in the future, I wonder how many will believe its a wizard who is protecting the forest and not the forest itself, we should also probably try to analyze the fighting capabilities of outside forces(their numbers, level of magic, any anti us capabilities, etc).

Also have we discovered who the mysterious forces portalling monsters into our forest is yet?

 

[Toboe]

As this is a communal action I think we can do approval voting? I don't want to resort to violence as yet, but nor do I want to negotiate with self-describing thieves as a first response. The traders came in good faith and left with goods. These gits came with sinister intent and will leave with nothing.

Click to shrink...

My thought for first action: tell them to get lost.
If they attack: combat, else go down the list (like shield)
[][Lumberjacks] Call in a favor from Newton Village to handle them.
-[] Ask that Old Man Materson, Granny Miller, and the speakers approach them
--[] Position: "The wizard would not appreciate someone trying to fell the trees of his forest. An actual attack on his home or his friends in the nearby village would be seen as a declaration of war."
--[] Be prepared to jump into combat the moment they try to attack the villagers, have wolves, bears and squirrels nearby.

 

[Sir Plusse]

Also have we discovered who the mysterious forces portalling monsters into our forest is yet?

Click to shrink...

We're like 90% sure it's vampires, but we don't have any actual proof beyond that... let's call it a "factory" being apparently manned by intelligent monsters. So... averages out to "no" I guess?

 

[Nigerian Duck]

One Tree attempted to see its own Mind, with little effect. It couldn't figure out how to Telepathically Connect to itself, though it tried. Thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking was a fun exercise, but also not terribly productive.

Click to shrink...

Was this me? If so, then it seems as if my attempt to see my soul was pretty garbage. But no matter—I still have one or two more turns before I have to upgrade.

 

[IamtooSleepy]

We are now not only theoretically-capable of incorporating other plants (particularly Trees) into the Forest, but we now in-fact do so by default on a steady basis. [...] As an additional bonus, the Forest now has the option to unlock potentially-dozens of minor bonuses from surrounding plants.

Click to shrink...

"We are the Forest. Lower your shields and surrender your grove. We will add your biological and magical distinctiveness to our own. Your local wildlife will be adopted as our friends. Resistance is futile."

The Bee Tree continued assisting the Bees, which continued to happily multiply. That said, winter will soon be upon us, and while preparing resources for Bees will be an option, the Bees won't be able to help the Forest during that time…
…Unless a Hive learns Magic, perhaps?

Click to shrink...

Magic Bee! Magic Bee! I mean, that sound cheaper and more practical than my first idea, which is "heat up the entire for forest for the duration of winter so they can continue to help us".

You will have a choice to make, and you will have to make it fairly soon… though not until after a much closer problem is dealt with - the Trees notice a party of wannabe woodcutters approaching from the north.

Click to shrink...

More friend! But also, someone need to start talking to them. Perhaps...

You will have to introduce yourselves… (Prompts mini-turn. Phigment: Please suggest an approach to visit the main Ant Colony. …Or specify that you want to carefully check your location and turn back around, if you'd prefer, I suppose? The way home will be quicker, even if it is slightly uphill - with experience and something resembling a known path, even mediocre rolls will suffice. Other questers cannot IC offer you support at this distance.)

Click to shrink...

I just saying, but maybe Ben and Betty could have a field trip or two this turn to local ant hill and a nearby city?

The various not-animals continued huddling for perhaps another five minutes, before slowly dispersing. Apparently content to peaceably leave each other be until a later date. And you know you've noted some of those creatures hunting others, too, normally…

Click to shrink...

Can we make these void animals our friend?

If the Forest had one or more Trees skilled in Communication focusing on Connecting across the distance, Communication would likely span a significantly longer range…

Click to shrink...

Potential new tree type perhaps? Signal amplifier tree?

Brown Bear #1 has learned Death Magic at Competent level

Click to shrink...

Wooooo.

But at the same time, days away to the east, a group of dozens of Minds is slowly approaching. Any Tree Reaching Out to Minds notices them. They aren't hostile, but weary - it's their pursuers that are hostile…

Click to shrink...

That does not sound good...

-240 out of -9876543.21 successes towards Shadow Spinners

Click to shrink...

oof

Also, that's a lot of new actions this turn.

[X][Action] Connect to Local Wildlife (Psychic) (Void Animals)
Since Talanburg is it's own mini-turn, I guess I can start poking around the void to see if we can have more friend.

[X][Focus] Void Forest
[X][Focus] Monster Energy
[X][Focus] Life Indeed (Magic Biology Research)
[X][Focus] Burninator

[X][Squirrel] Lead a search-party along the east path
[X][Deer] Scout the Group of Dozen Minds to the East and their hostile pursuers.
[X][Moles] Dig a Tunnel from Forest to Newton Village
[X][Beavers] Learn Water Magic
[X][Bees] Scout the Group of Dozen Minds to the East and their hostile pursuers.
[X][Ants] Keep our Creatures Clean
[X][Wolves] Sneak up on the Lumberjacks during the night and give them a good scare to drive them away.
[X][Corvids] Scout the Group of Dozen Minds to the East and their hostile pursuers.
[X][Bears] Enhance Growth
[X][Lesser Wraith] Assist with Monster Energy
To be honest, I think having our animals sneak up at lumberjacks which includes three mages with "significant power" sound like it going to result in our animals taking heavy casualty rather than scaring the lumberjacks away.

[X][Speaker] Represent the Forest
-[X] Ask the loggers to leave while having the wolves, wraith and bears along as escort as soon as the loggers get close enough that the forest can help if the logger attack.


[X][Format] One Spoiler per Bolded Category
[X][Lumberjacks] Put up a Shield and let them bounce off of it. (If they ever find you past the still-active Empty Veil.)

 

[ConfusedPotato]

[X][Action] Joint the Unpredictable tree on the quest for more Ant knowledge. After all, different patterns of thing and the road not taken and all that. Bring food and books and stuff. Also Squirrels and some Corvids and more Ants. This can't possibly go wrong.
-[X][Action] If @Phigment decides not to get more Ant knowledge, join death bear in learning the sacred art of killing things with the power of your mind. If we end up fighting the lumberjacks, remember to thank them for volunteering to give up their lives for science.
[X][Focus] Burninator
[X][Focus] Flesh, Not of My Flesh (Magic Biology Research)
[X][Focus] Void Forest (Magic) (Void)
[X][Focus] Analyze Mundane Movement (Biology Research) (Movement Research)
[X][AutoFocus] Plan: Learning for Life
-[X][AutoFocus] Automatically focus on the research projects that grant a bonus to research, otherwise research project closest to completion percentage wise.
[X][Squirrel] Assist with the Lumberjack problem.
[X][Deer] Assist with the Lumberjack problem.
[X][Moles] Make irrigation channels off of the dams.
[X][Beavers] Make irrigation channels off of the dams.
[X][Bees] Learn Magic to prevent winter hibernation.
[X][Ants] Learn Magic to prevent winter hibernation.
[X][Wolves] Assist with the Lumberjack problem
[X][Corvids] Weather Analysis (9 dice)
[X][Bears] Learn Magic to prevent winter hibernation.
[X][Lesser Wraith] Research Magic-Drain
[X][Lesser Fire Salamander]Teach Fire Magic
[X][Speaker] Learn magic to help with your chores
[X][Speaker] Learn magic to help with your chores
[X][Format] One Spoiler per Bolded Category

 

[Sir Plusse]

oof

Click to shrink...

Given the exact numbers, I'm pretty sure that's basically "something has utterly scrambled our senses on that front so we have no idea what our progress towards Connecting to them is, or even if we're making any" re: Shadow Spinners. I mean, I'm pretty sure we didn't even have 240 dice dedicated to them, let alone 240 successes, and the "threshold" is literally a countdown (a negative one, even!) and is thus not trustworthy.

So... probably still oof-worthy, but hypothetically surmountable at least. Though it might be possible they're already Connected to someone else... eh, whatever, we'll figure that out if it happens.

 

[_Plague Doctor_]

[X] [Action] Experiment with rocket-propelled flight

 

[Toboe]

[X][Action] Combine the light bending materials from lens trees with unusual lumber to create ornamental unusual lumber. Magics to consider: Light(/Darkness negacion) + Illusion for beautiful light play

[X][Squirrel] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Deer] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Moles] Build Tunnels for a fungal connection from the Forests main body to the Speaker Tree
[X][Beavers] Build a drop off point for chamber pots, compost, and other fertilizing matter the Village(rs) may produce
--[X] position along the the moles tunnel, so fungi would have an easy time to absorb and transport the nutrients,
[X][Bees] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Ants]Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Wolves] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Corvids] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Bears] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[][Dire Bat] Locked in: Scouting
[X][Lesser Wraith] Research "Magic-Drain"
[X][Speaker] Boost: Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Speaker] Boost: Life Indeed, overflow to BurninatorX2
[X][AutoFocus] Maintenance for Forestlife and preparing for the coming winter
-[X][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards upgrading 1 Weather Tree to elder, then growing a Lens Tree until completion and then a Wise Tree until we've reached the cap for both
-[X][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards "Life Indeed", then Burninator, after that put 1 Focus Action towards Salamander learning Fire/Ice negacion
[X][Lumberjacks] Call in a favor from Newton Village to handle them.
-[X] Ask that Old Man Materson, Granny Miller, and the speakers approach them
--[X] Position: "The wizard would not appreciate someone trying to fell the trees of his forest. An actual attack on his home or his friends in the nearby village would be seen as a declaration of war."
--[X] Be prepared to jump into combat the moment they try to attack the villagers, have wolves, bears and squirrels nearby.
[X][Lesser Fire Salamander] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Format] One Spoiler per Bolded Category
@Space Jawa @LinkOnScepter
Wanna join me in having the moles make a fungal connection tunnel from the forest to the speaker tree for projects 4,5,6,7 from my suggestions?

Beaver+Moles for groundwork:

1. a network of irrigation tunnels
2. a cistern to store water.
3. irrigation trenches for the villagers fields
4. a tunnel lined with our fungal friends, to extend our resources network closer to the village (maybe even to the speaker tree?)
5. a depot for the villagers to drop off their chamber pots contents, fungally connected to (4)
6. a fungal connection from (4) to the villages fields, so we can send nutrients we don't need there
7. a compost heap with fungal connection to (4)

Click to shrink...

[ ][Action] Incorporated Growth
-The Forest has done extensive Research on merging other Trees with the Forest. But the Communication-specialists haven't fully attuned to this project.
-When completed, Growth Incorporated (Grow the Forest automatic successes per turn) will gain a bonus equal to 10% of the Forest's Specialized Dice in Communication (currently 70*10%=7).
-0 of 42 successes

Click to shrink...

Oooh, nice.

[X][Squirrel] Assist with the Lumberjack problem.
[X][Deer] Assist with the Lumberjack problem.
[X][Moles] Make irrigation channels off of the dams.
[X][Beavers] Make irrigation channels off of the dams.
[X][Bees] Learn Magic to prevent winter hibernation.
[X][Ants] Learn Magic to prevent winter hibernation.
[X][Wolves] Assist with the Lumberjack problem
[X][Corvids] Weather Analysis (9 dice)
[X][Bears] Learn Magic to prevent winter hibernation.
[X][Lesser Wraith] Research Magic-Drain
[X][Lesser Fire Salamander]Teach Fire Magic
[X][Speaker] Learn magic to help with your chores
[X][Speaker] Learn magic to help with your chores
[X][Format] One Spoiler per Bolded Category

Click to shrink...

The "learn magic" actions could just go towards "Life Indeed", it is all about teaching our connected creatures magic. For the hibernation and Lesser Fire Salamander, overflowing into Burninator could help, so that first they learn magic and then we get into better fire so they can warm themselves to avoid the chill of winter.

 

[sunrise]

[X][Action] Incorporate Plant Dandelions
[X][Corvids] Scout the Group of Dozen Minds to the East and their hostile pursuers.
[X][Beavers] Learn Water Magic
[X][Speaker] Represent the Forest
-[X] Ask the loggers to leave while having the wolves, wraith and bears along as escort as soon as the loggers get close enough that the forest can help if the logger attack.

 

[K von Carstein]

[X][Action] Raise the Shield

[X][Squirrel] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Deer] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Moles] Build Tunnels for a fungal connection from the Forests main body to the Speaker Tree
[X][Beavers] Build a drop off point for chamber pots, compost, and other fertilizing matter the Village(rs) may produce
--[X] position along the the moles tunnel, so fungi would have an easy time to absorb and transport the nutrients,
[X][Bees] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Ants]Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Wolves] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Corvids] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Bears] Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[][Dire Bat] Locked in: Scouting
[X][Lesser Wraith] Research "Magic-Drain"
[X][Speaker] Boost: Life Indeed, overflow to Burninator
[X][Speaker] Boost: Life Indeed, overflow to BurninatorX2
[X][AutoFocus] Maintenance for Forestlife and preparing for the coming winter
-[X][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards upgrading 1 Weather Tree to elder, then growing a Lens Tree until completion and then a Wise Tree until we've reached the cap for both
-[X][AutoFocus] Put 1 Focus Action towards "Life Indeed", then Burninator, after that put 1 Focus Action towards Salamander learning Fire/Ice negacion

 

[Walliseatscheese]

There is a chance they would miss the Forest entirely without intervention, truly, but it isn't likely. Additionally, they seem prepared to stay around and search for a week or two. Worse: They might potentially threaten Newton Village; half of them aren't willing to kill another Two-Legs, you think, but two of the three Mages (stealth and the older of the two arguing), along with one of the normals, you think, would be willing to if need be.

Click to shrink...

I was amused.

I am less so.

I have...thoughts, and will do a fuller reaction/plan when I'm not child watching.

But at the same time, days away to the east, a group of dozens of Minds is slowly approaching. Any Tree Reaching Out to Minds notices them. They aren't hostile, but weary - it's their pursuers that are hostile…

Click to shrink...

Refugees. Best we act on both things now, to best preserve Life.

Hmmm. Solve one problem with another....

So, serious question: Should I introduce myself, or the whole forest, to the Thinking Ants? I don't want to break stealth unilaterally, since they're close enough they could actually affect us, or could start telling other people about the Forest. This should be something the rest of you get input on, even if you can't directly help.

Click to shrink...

The Thinking Ants seemed to generally be agreed to be generally decent neighbors, in that we have not heard of bloodthirsty roaming packs of giant(????) ants killing all the Two Legs around them.

Like, even when nations/peoples explicitly don't do things like that, the Other usually gets rumors about such things, and all we've really heard is that one particular larger nation has made a point of saying "These are our Large Friendly Ants thank you very much", which says something about the Thinking Ants' ability to engage in both diplomacy and Public Relations.

So, the Resource Storing Tree has no issues with opening up with a general "Hi! We exist and would like to engage in the being of the friends or at least good somewhat distant neighbors! We're new to the trading of talkings and 'di-plo-ma-tic-en-voys' and are enthusiastic to meet with our seniors in such matters!"

That being said, we need to work on Stillness Magic, Movement/Stillness Negation, and the Teleportation subsection of that Magic, because I have ideas about how to handle the current situation that would be...helped by someone Unpredictable to lead the efforts

Now someone post so I'm not double posting when I finish this- micro omake?

 

[Jack727]

We should give the death bear a skull hat. As for ants Introducing ourselves is a good idea, they are a known factor so they can speak in our favor if it comes up.

 

[Sir Plusse]

That being said, we need to work on Stillness Magic, Movement/Stillness Negation, and the Teleportation subsection of that Magic, because I have ideas about how to handle the current situation that would be...helped by someone Unpredictable to lead the efforts

Click to shrink...

I've been thinking: Teleportation kinda sounds more like Here/There Negacion, really. But... Here and There sound kind of... incredibly specialized? As in, so much so that we might not be able to deliberately research either of them?

But I might just be overthinking things to the point that I'm starting to sound stupid...

 

[Walliseatscheese]

Betty Grimm further assisted, by discussing in "ways to prepare for winter," which had several minor suggestions you hadn't yet considered.

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The Lesser Fire Salamander asks if you'd be willing to directly contribute and finish a bit faster? That would let it learn Ice during winter - which is both easier and a much-appreciated protection from the cold…

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And so, a memory shared, to Speaker and Spoken, to Flame and Friend, by one who also seeks to forestall the Ever Cold.

<From A Time Before Thoughts Flowed As Freely As Sap>

<The Leaf Shedding Time Came Early That Season-Cycle, All Those Years-Turns-Rotations Ago>

<The Cold Came, And The Cold Stayed, Spreading Throughout Limbs And Boughs, Through Grass And Ground, Through Bark And Bite>

<The Cold Sank Deep Into The World, The Mud Below Freezing, The Roots Chillng, The Wood-Flesh-Sap-Blood Going Still>

<And Yet The Cold Sank Deeper>

<The Limbs and Boughs Froze Through>

<The Sap-Blood Was As Water And Expanded, And So The Bark And Wood-Flesh Cracked>

<The Roots, So Deep Away From The Cold, Went Still>

<And Even The Heartwood Was Touched By The Cold That Sank Ever Deeper>

<And Yet>

<Deep In The Heart-Core-Center, There Was Just Enough To Last>

<And The Cold Turned Away From The World, And The Growing Times Came Again>

<Though Harmed, The Tree Survived, And Now Knew>

<And Now, So Do You>