TreeQuest: Magitech (Riot Quest)

[Robinton]

Remaining items: Rock sequence, Ben and Betty, Locusts and Shielding, and Final Tidying.

But, alas, it's past time for me to go to bed. Good night!

 

[kinglugia]

Good night!

Click to shrink...

Sleep tight!

 

[Robinton]

Spoiler: Rolls

AutoFocus: (11 votes)
4.0 (Any) = 4.0 net votes to [X] Any
4 votes to [X] Clan Infiltration
-1 Focus: Keep supporting the Salamander's winterhardening by supporting the action "Salamandastron"; after that, follow Focus order below.
-1 Focus: Upgrade the Mining Tree; Grow Relay Trees until there are at least 4; Grow Defender Ent until there is at least 1; Hevel; Incorporate Plants (anything with progress takes precedence; continue as long as Named options exist - yes, this may stall for years; we'll revise the AutoFocus if it gets annoying); Research Elder Special Trees; Research Ancient Special Trees.
-1 Focus: Investigate and (quietly!) subvert Woo spy network cells where found.

Focus:
Overridden: Focus Lockon: Spynet Infiltration
(Note that the Action gets half the usual Research bonus, and one-quarter of the usual Growth bonus, for a cumulative +4 to Focus Actions.)
(4+4)x4=32 automatic successes into Woo Spynet Infiltration

Note that Box Lunch, Space Jawa, and Razzocnor each have 1.5 free auto-successes to use whenever they please. The Froggy Ninja has one free Effective Success on any Offense action (restricted to Offense Actions the Forest could actually plausibly use at the time), to be used at a time of your choosing.

Razzocnor 2d -> 1 success to Explosive Defenses.

Actions:
34 dice - 15 successes - into: [X] Water/Fire Negacion (Magic Elements)
30 dice - 19 successes - into: [X] Store Resources Against Future Need
20 dice - 16 successes - into: [X] Veritas (Magic Elements)
16 dice - 8+1 successes - into: [X] Void Forest (Magic) (Void) (Magic Research)
17 dice - 12+6.25+13.5 successes - into: [X] Raise the Shield
13 dice - 7 successes - into: [X] Explosive Defenses
12 dice - 8+6.6 successes - into: [X] Rain and Shine
11 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Upgrade Lens Tree to Elder
9 dice - 5 successes - into: [X] Investigate Andrewsburg
8 dice - 5 successes - into: [X] Maintain Long-Distance Connection
7 dice - 4 successes - into: [X] Study Illusions (Magic Elements)
7 dice - 5 successes - into: [X] Research Advanced Movement (Magic Elements) (Movement Research)
7 dice - 2 successes - into: [X] Grow Relay Trees
7 dice - 4 successes - into: [X] Feed the Swarm (Bees)
6 dice - 3+5.5 successes - into: [X] Empty Veil (Void)
5 dice - 4 successes - into: [X] Mortal, Finite, Temporary (Magic Elements)
4 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] What A Tangled Web We Weave (Magic Elements)
4 dice - 3 successes - into: [X] Reverse-engineer Firearms
2 dice - 1 success - into: [X] Grow the Forest
2 dice - 2 successes - into: [X] Design Magic Weapons and Armor (Magic Research)
2 dice - 1 success - into: [X] Magical Construct Analysis (Magic Research)
2 dice - 2 successes - into: [X] Incorporate Plant Aranion
0+8 dice - (1,4) successes - into: [X] Hevel (Magic Elements)
0 dice - 0+3.75 successes - into: [X] Incorporate Plant Sporing Mushrooms
0 dice - 0+6.75 successes - into: [X] Monster Energy (Magic Biology Research) (Biology Research) (Magic) (Magic Research)
0 dice - 0+5 successes - into: [X] Salamandastron

Dice Rolled=233; succeeded=133.

Tall Tree bonus: 4 ranks; x1.04(060401).

Jack727 - [Seer], level 1 - That Rock, that one over there.

Write-ins:
Space Jawa, "Covertly converse sneakily with Granny Miller about failed Marta Yarrow romance investigation scheme; Seek her wisdom and advice on the matter (and aid, if she'd be willing to provide it)."
Nigerian Duck, "[Action] From deep within your stores of biological knowledge accrued over the course of months, begin to grow and gestate a small flesh space of incubation to support life within the trunk of your tree. Your plan is finally coming into fruition…." -[Bone/Flesh/Soul, Write-in bonus], level 2
kinglugia, "Continue with incorporating Fire Magic into our Laser Beams, but this time collaborate with anyone studying Monster Energy in order to make our Laser Flare™ more effective against Monsters and things of Malice.\n-[X] Destructive testing on hostile fuckers that couldn't be subjugated/assimilated/talked down coming our way during the Malice Storm. This tree is in the mood for some purifying pew pews." -Omake bonus
mastigos, "Mining Mushrooms Manifold: grow the mining portion of the fungal network and infrastructure for separating out samples of any interesting minerals that it might find for the researches to poke at." -[Fungi, Write-in bonus], level 2
Lunos1, "continue to Research Natural Magic and the flow of magical Energies in the World."
Somebodynobody10, "Write in: Assist in either Talanburg Full disclosure or subverting the contacts, whichever wins."
ConfusedPotato, "Talking with the ants was fun. But now there is something evil on the wind. Investigate. Study. Prepare. Exploit." -[Research, Write-in bonus], level 2
The Froggy Ninja, "Continue studying Sensing Trees and how/why they're so weird."
Svn0One, "try to fill a nut with the concept of sound." -[Nuts, Write-in bonus], level 2
Razzocnor, "Continue attempting to design Living Armor." -[Magic Biology Research, Write-in bonus], level 2
Phigment, "Unpredictable Adventuring, to finish getting my fast travel book!" -[Write-in bonus], level 6
AntaeusTheGiant, "It seems I need to work more on perfecting my music before I try to infuse it with magic. So, during the chills of winter I will be doing that, trying to find those sounds and combinations thereof that are pleasing to both man, tree, and beast. Hopefully, I will not scare or anger my audience..."
MoonSerpent, "SWORD MOBILIZATION- TRAINING FOR EVERY ABLED BODY! (Offense)."
Bloms, "Write-in: "Experiment regarding the production of gunpowder or gunpowder equivalents through organic means."

Notes:
Joseluzperez, "i Ponder the temporariness of life by watching the other plants wither and die."

Talanburg: Walk away, but stall long enough to ensure we've compromised the Woo Clan spynet in Talanburg - and every other cell it can contact. On the off chance that 'stalling' gives us more options - all the better!
Talanburg Focus: 4

Ally actions:
Squirrels: Assist with Incorporated Growth. 4 automatic successes. Plus: try to learn Swordsquirrelship Magic, and instead manage to learn Death (barring Arthur Scrat, who learned the original lesson and not the replacement).
Deer: +4 automatic successes, probably to Growth, bonuses apply. Finishing the Relay Trees requires 3.72612. Remainder to Upgrade Lens Tree.
Moles: +25% bonus to Survival.
Beavers: +3 (bonuses apply) to upgrading a Special Tree. Finish Upgrade Defender Ent to Elder (after Marta Yarrow), overflow to Upgrade Lens Tree to Elder.
Bees: +7 automatic successes across any combination of Research and Growth actions. All to Fire/Water Negacion; overflow to Hevel, overflow to Veritas, overflow to Woo Clan Spynet.
Ants: Reroll top two lagging actions. Used on Corvids and Marta Yarrow's Tree-Growing.
Wolves: +4 automatic successes to Communications. Investigate Andrewsburg.
Corvids: Contribute to Hevel, +8 dice, (1,4) successes (good thing the Ants were watching).
Bears: Skipping hibernation, but moving with reduced effect… Teach Death Magic.
Dire Bat: Assist with Monster Energy. +1 Auto-success and +15% (multiplicative) to all successes (this project is more aligned to the Dire Bat than Void Forest is to the Lesser Wraith).
Lesser Wraith: Assist with Void Forest. +1 Auto-success and +10% (multiplicative) to all successes.
Lesser Fire Salamander: 5 auto-successes (bonuses apply) to Salamandastron.
Speakers Ben and Betty Grimm: Betty returns from Talanburg. Ben crits on learning Fire Magic and also picks up Swordsmanship. Then they both assist Fire/Water Negacion, and pick it up (Novice) themselves. For the extensive chain of Overflow results: see Bees, above.
Herbalist: Upgrade Defender Ent. …Decent but not remarkable result, for a project well inside her wheelhouse… 12 successes, -3 Resources.
Steve Robertson: Teach Swordsmanship to the Squirrels (et al) (cost: 1 Unusual Lumber and 3 Resources per Turn) (he's not going to be stingy, but he's not going to give something valuable for free… just for cheap) (this will almost certainly give the Forest an upgrade quest - I'm looking at you, Sword Tree)
Elder Defender Ent: Putting all actions into the upcoming Combat Round.

Turn 29 Results

As the oncoming Malice Storm bore down on the Forest, you issued a call for everyone (friendly) in the vicinity to hunker down under your Shields - there was no reason to not, and who knew what damage you could (hopefully) prevent. You strengthened the Shield, and sent much of your considerable strength through the Elder Weather Tree, and hoped for the best. (Successes: Weather Manipulation 45.85 and Raise the Shield 51.2, also Empty Veil (Void) 9.73 though that mostly didn't matter this turn.)

A day or so before the Storm hit, a group of people walked along the path until they entered your territory, and called out, "Hey; whoever is here, could we please camp here until the Storm is over? Thank you!" As they don't seem hostile - something between 'vaguely friendly' and 'interested in not knowing too much,' depending on the individual - the Forest agrees. Some Trees consider explicitly contacting them, but there isn't a clear consensus.

That said, the Forest did ask Mr. Tavish to talk to them briefly. They admitted that a few of their number were Seers, with the strongest a mere child and (by your best estimation) at least twice (and likely thrice) as precognitive as your foresighted Paranoid Tree. You'd previously heard that roughly "the stronger the Seer, the greater their peril," and the further information you received quite agreed with this analysis.

One of their older Seers explained, "Seer runs in our extended family, and Seers and Malice do not mix well. Though it's not like stronger Seers don't already have it rough. I've tried to describe it before, but non-Seers simply cannot imagine what it's like to routinely live through, say, your own children murdering you, or worse vice-versa, and know that this could yet happen. To say nothing of the Monsters out there, and the traps for any unwary gaze. Or the things that can See you if you See Them." At this point, he shuddered. Mr. Tavish took a moment to digest this and the older Seer added, "The first trick we teach in mental defense is simple: Focus on the present, and use it as a mental shield to block out all else."

At one point during the night, the child woke up from a dream, gasping. The Forest couldn't fully make sense of it - not being even peripherally Connected - but he immediately slammed down mentally, focusing on the surroundings.

Once he managed to recover somewhat, he quietly spoke: "There wasn't another way, was there? I'd have died, in every other path. Barring maybe a hero or the Last Star showing up."

He curled up and put his arms around his knees and rocked gently, Mind running through (vaguely-seen by the Forest without a Connection but still) calming and Mental-defense techniques.

At last, as he was about ready to go back to sleep, he said, "She's innocent. I think. The plant-lady. Whoever she is, as far as I can See, it's just luck."

(Slight boost to mental defense, mostly from the boy's advanced techniques. Some information.)

Aside from this extended family - who seem to have traveled nearly a hundred miles to take shelter under your Shield - a startling number of various Animals showed up and hunkered down. Every Corvid for a hundred miles, you had expected from your own Corvids' warnings. But other birds? Bugs? Rabbits? Porcupines? Non-Connected Wolves from far away? Wild Pigs, even Boars, despite your enmity with their kind?

Even Monsters hid - though you didn't risk checking carefully, you believe the Shadow-Spinners hid inside their nest to the last, and piled up quite a bit of extra armor on the nest to boot, while bolting over all openings. The many "normal" Monsters - including Dire Wolves, a colony of Dire Bats, several Slime Monster variants, and a (somewhat-unusual for your region) Miniature Roc - found whatever shelter they could, as far underground as they could get, and waited as the world held its breath.

The storm-front hit, and the Elder Weather Tree creaked alarmingly - as much at the quantity of power being channeled through it as anything - but held. It was trying to protect not only the Forest, but also Newton Village - and Weather-Manipulation wasn't able to be precise against an onslaught like this; it served only to dampen the blow. (Weather Manipulation counts half as much as Shield, but affects the general vicinity instead of just the Forest.)

The Shields creaked, but held. Yet outside, even inches outside, their protective embrace… The meaning and color and life and light and warmth and distinction seem to be going out of everything; every connection erased and everything reduced to a gray and blank slate, if indeed you can claim that it has color at all. Whatever this Storm comes from, whatever it echoes - it hates everything, and especially anything with Magic. Or, perhaps, the Storm simply is Malice, not a thing that hates but the hatred itself.

But the effect was not absolute - not even close. Potent, but not omnipotent. Your Senses were blinded by the overload of Malice, but physical objects were obviously still there. And even to your Senses, there were brief holes in the Malice, times the world seems to reassert itself.

The Forest immediately noticed several oddities in the interaction between the Shield and Weather Manipulation and the Malice Storm. With the lessons learned from Monster Energy, and some careful guidance from Old Man Materson, the Forest was, very rapidly, able to slightly tweak both for greater resistance. It didn't seem to perfectly fix the problem, but it mitigated it greatly.

The storm dragged on, day after day. The initial gust had few equals, but a particular vortex of Malice on the fourth day rivaled it. And, by that point, the Forest knew for certain that its tweaks had merely delayed the problem - the Shield and Weather Manipulation were wearing out.

Slowly, yes. But surely. At a steady rate, such that they would - if nothing changed - burn out after 25 days. Of course, if the Malice Storm ended first, all would be well. And everyone agreed that a 20-day Malice Storm was unprecedented, so this seemed unlikely to occur. At the same time, the Forest's defenses were weakening - even as the Malice Storm battered down against it.

The Forest did have one project that could counter this, to a degree - learning Steam Magic was expected to allow the Forest to more effectively divert Weather around itself, thus reducing the damage. And, with a massive chunk of insight from learning Water/Fire Negacion, the Forest managed to finish this project around the sixth day of the Malice Storm.

And it is well that the Forest did - because the Storm's eighth and last day was fiercer than any that came before, and if the Forest had not learned to better protect itself, the Shield would have likely shattered briefly during the Storm's worst moments. As it stands, there were several moments of alarm during the last hours of the Storm, and baby Rumil Yuadore (seemingly sensing the mood) wailed nonstop until it had subsided. (Note: even without Hevel, damage would have been a mere 4.63. Other note: Effective severity of the Storm seems to scale with how large (Magnitude) and how Magical (square root of total points into Magic Elements style projects) you are, with some other modifiers.)

But then, after that last terrible burst of Malice, the Storm passed. The wrongness that could vaguely be called gray maybe passed away into the west, and all was calm. Cold - as winter began - but calm. Aside from the ludicrous number of presumably-new Monsters in the vicinity. Those began attacking the Forest almost as soon as the Malice Storm ended. Those will have to be dealt with as they attack… (After this Turn, the Forest will get a Combat Round to handle immediate Monster threats; further Combat Rounds may follow later Turns while Monsters persist.)

The Forest had a lot of opportunities to study Malice - and mostly had to refrain, due to the inherent corruptiveness of that Element. However, oddly enough, you quickly realized you could (barely) detect Monsters - underground, mostly - outside the bounds of the Shield, even during the worst moments of the Storm. The Malice Storm should, if Monsters are simply empowered by Malice, have been sufficient to blind your sense for Monster Energy during those moments. But it wasn't - which implies, most likely, that Monsters and their associated energy are not precisely Malice. Tainted by Malice, perhaps? (+25% multiplicative to all other modifiers, this turn only, due to a fascinating testcase.)

Once the Storm ended, the Forest noticed something fascinating! A locally-famous Wyvern, which lives some distance northeast of the Forest, and is decidedly not Malicious, is nonetheless Connected to… you're not certain if it's the same Source as Monsters (just sans Malice) or if it's an incredibly-similar Source to Monsters (again, sans Malice), but it's clearly one of the two.

Now that you knew what to look for, a bit of careful scanning revealed three additional things:

First, part-Elves in general seem to have occasional flickers of Connection to this Source - the non-Malice variant, if variant it indeed is. Even at most there's only a tiny fraction of the Connection expressed by the Wyvern (or any typical Monster), but still.

Second, a traveler with plaid hair happened to pass within your scanning range - journeying from the Shining Concord Empire to the Phaeron Factions, to visit old friends and relatives - and his hair (but not the man in general) was Connected to this same Source (again, the Malice-free version).

Third, neither the Forest nor any of your Creatures - barring the Monsters you have claimed - seem to be Connected to this Source.

You aren't yet sure whether you are dealing with one Source or two, but the full project - being able to properly Disconnect your Monsters from being Monsters while hopefully retaining their abilities - seems feasible. Probably fully possible; you had originally been unsure whether you would be able to fully cut off the Corruption while retaining their abilities. You suspect that the Forest could now cut the Dire Bat off from its powers, with only "Dire Bat now requires far more Resources and must stay near the Forest" as side-effects.

Incidentally, a few hours after the Malice had dissipated, the group with the Seers packed up and left.

One Tree sought to make the Lasers extra-effective against Malice and Monsters. It failed to get an Anti-Malice Laser working, but successfully used the Monster Energy research to get an Anti-Monster Laser working nicely - making Lasers even more thoroughly the most-damaging daytime weapon in the Forest's inventory against most non-army foes. (Additionally, 1 free Laser success will be added to the upcoming Combat Round.)

---

The Seer Tree had a rather alarming vision this turn. In the vision, a small rock that had previously been largely unnoticed by the Forest, turned out to be sending a transmission (using an exotic form of energy as-yet-unknown to the Forest) directly to some shadowy mastermind.

The Forest proceeded to destroy several odd-looking small rocks, but remains uncertain that it has destroyed the correct one.

---

Marta Yarrow - distracted by other goings-on this turn - was getting ready to make a critical mistake and exhaust her easily-accessible supply of dried bamboo sprigs (relevant potion usage: extremely fast growth under the right conditions). However, the Ants had been paying a bit of attention to her work (as, indeed, had the Forest), and pointed out a subtle flaw in her work (one of the other compounds was great for Two-Legs but toxic to Trees) that seemed wrong to them. She insisted it was fine, checked reluctantly, double-checked, triple-checked, blushed scarlet, and gave the Ants who pointed the mistake out free help collecting food for the rest of the turn.

(The Forest was watching - more from interest in the process than paranoia, but that was a nice bonus - and is 99.5% certain this mistake was legitimate. Which is not to say she's certainly friendly, but - well, at this point, she probably is. Also, no enemies have suddenly manifested that know and target the Forest's inmost secrets, which is reassuring.)

With that minor-but-critical problem fixed, and with the Forest contributing some minor Resources (3) and progress (also 3) to her efforts, she finished the potion, and carefully fed it - diluted fortyfold in water, then carefully measured out a single drop at a time - to the Defender Ent Tree, compressing massive amounts of Growth into an incredibly short time. The Beavers spent a good chunk of their efforts on the finishing touches, and the rest upgrading the last Lens Tree to Elder.

The Elder Defender Ent, once fully upgraded, proceeded to patrol the borders of the Forest and help deal with every single Monster incursion. (Double effect on Combat Round.)

---

As far as Talanburg, one of the unwillingly-cooperating individuals slipped a note about what's happening to the mayor. Mayor John Sharp had a moment of near-incandescent fury, before biting it down and trying to figure out - what to do now?

Granny Miller pulled him aside shortly thereafter and asked - in slightly more guarded language - for him to stall for a bit. She promised him that in two months at the latest, if nothing dramatic changed, the Forest would be fine with him kicking them out.

He asked, "Exactly how likely is a dramatic change?"

Granny Miller replied, "Likely enough I'm trying to stall for it."

Mayor Sharp pursed his lips and said, "I'll give you one. I think I can stall that long."

As it so happened, however, he successfully sidetracked the entirety of public opinion with 'Malice Storm survival.' A goal which, coincidentally, the Trees in Talanburg were able to materially assist! So the Forest is doing, politically, just about as well as at the turn's start, despite our enemies continuing to spin public opinion against us.

As one side-note, the Mayor appears to be doing some investigating himself, and getting angrier with every lead and clue he finds…

---

With a bit of the rollover from Fire/Water Negacion (which was finished this turn), plus considerable personal effort (and some good luck), the Forest finished Veritas, and now has Competent Truth Magic. The Illusions of the Shadow-Spinners are now massively easier to pierce (2x), and the proxies of the Woo Clan itch against the Forest's senses in a subtle yet helpful way - all attempts to find them should be significantly easier (1.5x multiplicative). Additionally, Research has a slight but noticeable boost from the Forest knowing its own thoughts more clearly (note that, as this is a Research project boosting Research - the boost will only activate next turn).

The Forest directed a level of intense focus to subverting the Woo Clan Spynet, beyond nearly anything it had done before. (Combine 32 auto-successes with +75% average bonus from Focus actions, plus over 45 points of overflow from various Research Projects, plus 23.56 effective from Andrewsburg Investigation, all times 1.5 (Veritas), for about 187.5 total successes.)

Growing a bunch of smaller Relay Tree analogues - Waypoint Trees - and rapidly moving them near to each nearby town, was the first step. Then the real investigation began: checking over all Minds with the Forest's senses, plus the knowledge of Woo Clan tactics, plus the boost of Veritas, plus cross-referencing everyone with previously identified contacts and references.

By the time the Malice Storm swept across the land, the Forest had Grown all necessary Waypoint Trees for all local towns, and still - despite the terrible weather - had the energy left over to Grow several more. A few of the furthest minor Relay Trees barely reached their destination as of the turn's end, but all local towns - and 4 further towns northeast and 5 further towns southeast - have been scanned. The further towns were a bit more expensive due to range, but not badly so.

You've learned a lot about the surrounding towns. Some particular highlights:

1. The Wyvern's Tribe was mostly resistant to external spynets, due to having a nonstandard society, being quite small and relatively unwelcoming to outsiders, and the Wyvern itself having some form of danger-sense.
2. The Wyvern itself isn't quite sapient. Not quite. But it's smarter than a baseline Corvid, and clearly is on the very edge of true language comprehension. It's also protective of its Tribe.
3. Salem Citadel could easily resist anything but a protracted siege… which is why the Woo Clan has five independent ways to easily breach the fortress with treachery.
4. Shieldhome isn't quite as broadly battle-ready as Salem, but the actual fortifications are better. Since they're further away, the Woo only have three independent ways to breach the city.
5. Melamar proper is doing a very good job keeping corruption and the Spynet from the highest authorities, but in the lower-levels it's endemic.
6. Nimar is smaller and less important than Melamar, and has less Spynet accordingly. Sanmar continues the trend, with an interesting fact that one local official is apparently a member of some Vampiric cult?
7. Every city in the area has someone reporting to each of the major continental powers (barring, in half of the cases, the Kiynwich Kingdom; oddly enough, Andrewsburg has fourteen nominal-spies from said Kingdom, none of whom officially know about each other but all of whom like to chat over food and drinks). Salem actually has - in addition to the unofficial reporter - an official liaison with the Shining Concord Empire, who (among other things) has orders to keep an eye on the Woo Clan. He, in turn, has six different assassins poised to take his life in a heartbeat, though you believe he could beat any single one of them fairly reliably (there were seven, actually, but one was just recently retasked).
8. Based on various people's thoughts - and the Void in your perceptions - one of the towns to the northeast of the Woo Clan has a major Voidshard quarry. It is, naturally, considered a military asset.

You've also learned that, according to a new (and seemingly reliable) rumor sweeping the land, sometime within the past five years or so, someone put out a hit on Craig Forman, and managed to convince the Nightmare Order (a fanatical order of skilled assassins; probably the most dangerous such on the continent) to take the job. Craig survived the assassination attempt, so they sent another. And another. And another. A year or two ago - or so the rumor goes - the surviving half* of the Nightmare Order finally gave up and, now bereft of purpose, asked Craig what that should be doing with their lives.

* Some stories claim "the surviving tenth" or similar. You're running with the figure that seems most plausible and least exaggerated - given that every time you've heard the figure change with a retelling, it was in the "fewer assassins survived" direction. Indeed, on a few occasions, the exaggerated retelling has accidentally implied that negative assassins survived. And on one silly occasion, the retelling intentionally stated that "negative ten zillion percent" of the assassins survived, and suggested the new Adventurers Guild are actually good-aligned Anti-Assassins. This is not the wildest story you've heard lately, but it's up there.

Nobody knows what Craig answered, but the remnants of the Nightmare Order appear to have started their own Adventurer's Guild, emphasizing Stealth and Farming (of all things).

It is entirely possible this rumor is less than fully accurate - indeed, it's almost certainly slightly off somewhere - but in all fairness… It's Craig Forman.

All things considered, you've scanned three-quarters of the towns within two-hundred-fifty miles of the Woo Clan in any direction, and are confident that you've gotten at least the vast majority of all Woo spies (and a fair majority of non-Woo spies) in any of them.

As an added bonus, you are now aware of half-a-dozen saplings from the Forest, which washed downstream in a flood last year, that have taken root twenty to fifty miles downstream of the Forest. These are slowly growing and should (without further assistance) eventually prove useful if left for long enough. None of them are in particularly good locations; a bit of effort could improve this. Additionally, you suspect there are more saplings yet-further downstream, though you haven't located any yet.

(Figuring out the Spynet for an average local town costs about 12 successes. Andrewsburg is slightly familiar to the Forest already and very close-by; it has a discount accordingly. There are 6 local towns worth noting (Shimar is small and unimportant enough to be fairly ignored but the Wyvern's tribe needs analysis). Overall, about 75 successes used on local; the other ~112.5 successes of progress go to spreading past the Area Map, for call-it-9-due-to-greater-distance-costs towns analyzed.)

Two additional notes: First, you now have a name for the "fang crossed with an enchanted axe" organization! They are the Society Against Wooden Invaders Needing General Annihilation, and are controlled at the highest levels by some of the Vampires that have managed to survive the Last Star. The current members believe the organization predates the Cataclysm, and is devoted to stopping Thinking Trees from becoming any sort of world power. As there are typically only about three reports per century per continent, and over half of them are clearly false, they also coordinate with any other Vampiric plot in the area - though it's clear they're only told about important information after the fact. That said, you can only read the Minds of their lower-rank members; their higher-rank individuals are shut to you.

Second, attempting to Mind-read one of those higher members - a female Luck Mage - seems to have tipped her off that something odd happened. Before you knew it, a highly-improbable chain of events - only exacerbated by the attempts you made to halt it - led to a Woo Clan Operative Magically sending a message in, before he could be stopped: "Unknown force able to bypass Spynet defenses."

Ah.

So, you're on the clock now. They know something is up. They will be, over the upcoming turn, sending out who-knows-what orders. Do you want to try to stall for one more turn - to get yet more of the Spynet? They don't yet know you - only that their Spynet protocols need redone, and even that they might disregard, and will probably not fully stop you (but rather force you to take a new Decryption Action). On the other hand, you can already, if you act and act well, subvert or destroy the fractions of the Woo Clan Spynet covering roughly three-quarters of their perimeter…

[ ][Spynet Response] Please vote by plan

---

Apparently Steve Robertson can't teach Swordsmanship…

…Unless a Hero Unit is learning. Arthur Scrat gained Swordssquirrelship at Dabbling, and Ben Grimm gained Swordsmanship at Novice. The Squirrels as a whole should be able to pick it up given some time, now, even though they weren't able to figure it out directly this turn - and neither was the Forest (though, with two Connected who have it at a meaningful level, the Forest has it at Dabbling anyway).

Steve also spent a bit of spare time writing down a jumbled mix of Swordsmanship thoughts, notes from teaching (what worked and what didn't), random thoughts, and what appears to be the start of a fascinating (if improbable) fantasy novel involving a legendary swordsman in a world without Magic.

One Tree tried particularly hard to learn Swordstreeship Magic, and while little progress was made, little is more than none. (0.5 base successes in learning and 0.5 in Combat.)

This has, frankly, been an amazing turn for Ben Grimm learning Magic. In addition to the aforementioned Swordsmanship, his prior failures in learning Fire Magic - plus a startlingly gentle push forward from Old Man Materson - have thoroughly taught him the perils and power of Fire, without scarring him mentally or physically. (Ben Grimm advanced to Competent Fire Magic, early in the turn. Permanent bonus to avoiding collateral damage.)

(Materson: "The trick's in giving enough advice but not too much." When asked how you know how much is too much, he answered: "Keep watching, and keep learnin'. I was pants at teaching until I turned fifty or so. If you can learn, and you care 'bout who you're teaching, that they do well - you'll get the balance down eventually. And if you don't - no lesson of mine'll ever fix yah." When asked "Don't what? Don't care? Don't learn?" He answered, "Yep!")

The Brown Bear that learned Death, also attempted to teach Death to some of the other creatures - with, so far, success with (and only with) a handful of Squirrels that have not learned Life Magic. Arthur Scrat, and Avo and Gadro, in particular, all tried to learn and got nowhere. … That said, part of the (sadly limited) results are certainly due to said Brown Bear having no prior teaching experience.

As a note, one of your Black Bears has been learning Telekinesis from the Forest itself - and integrating it with its fighting style, ensuring any opponents will tend to trip over their own feet.

Meanwhile, since Ben and Betty were both working on Fire/Water Negacion, they both joined in on the Forest's extensive efforts on that Negacion. And, in turn, they learned with the Forest even as the Forest learned with them - the two can now muster Fire/Water Negacion at Novice, which is both proof positive that they can manage Negacion Pairs together and somewhat useful (and impressive) even on its own.

It's both less impressive because they're restricted to tiny demonstrations due to the inefficiency of long-distance Magic - and more impressive that they can manage anything across the distance.

Finally, the Lesser Wraith finally had the necessary breakthrough and learned Life Magic (Competent). As such, its per-turn Resource cost has halved (from 2/turn to 1/turn)! It would like to specifically note that it is greatly enjoying both life and Life. Much like "being able to make choices" and "having friends," it remembers well that "freely learning Magic" was an employment benefit sorely missing at its previous establishment.

---

For the start and the end of the turn, a dedicated effort managed to allow the Forest to regain contact - at great range - with the two faroff Trees. Naturally, for the duration of the Malice Storm, the Forest lost contact - but the contact it had was sufficient to allow for full information-exchange before and after. Additionally, the Forest now has a better idea how much effort that sort of thing is likely to take in the future. (8.58 of 8 successes.)

As far as getting a permanent Connection to the vicinity of the Sapient Ant Colony, the Forest (with some effort from the Squirrels) finished growing the other two of the four necessary Relay Trees. Now it's only a matter of letting them all get into position - and the first one anchored itself and rode out the Malice Storm in roughly the last-Grown Relay Tree's final position. Indeed, it (and its traveling brethren) are the reason the Forest was able to reach both sojourners this easily. (Current bonus: -40% difficulty for contacting the Ants. Note that contacting the Unpredictable Tree is in roughly the same basic direction as the Ants, and bonuses are calculated accordingly.)

The Mad Science Tree did three major things this turn. First of all, it tried to mimic a Sensing Tree, and eventually gave up and started growing a Sensing Bush (designed with the full list of Sensing Tree abilities, except with a range of roughly five feet). Second, the result nearly exploded in the face of the Malice Storm, and the Mad Science Tree lost a smaller branch, so the Tree dug a hole and pulled both itself and the new-grown shrub into said hole for a week to ride out the worst of the Malice Storm - while nonetheless doing what Sensing of said Storm it safely could. Third, the Tree spent the rest of its time underground entertaining the Ants by turning a root six-legged and managing a surprisingly accurate and spectacularly funny attempt at talking in the language of Ants. The Ants were very entertained.

Once aboveground, the Mad Science Tree took stock of its depleted reserves, and decided to tap into some spare energy that it had stored for a rainy day, and a bit more given by another Tree. (1.5 autosuccesses each from ConfusedPotato and Toboe). It was - with that extra energy - able to finish the Sensing Bush. The Bush should be self-sustaining, given normal weather and sunlight, though it might need an active Tree minding it - or an active Forest Connection - to do anything meaningful. It also seems to need to be fed a bit of Energy and other Resources, or else it can only scan for about an hour per day.

But that was enough to scan the Ants at length. And - as soon as the Storm had dissipated and Connection was restored - the entire Forest turned to check and confirm the Mad Science Tree's findings. And yes - they were confirmed - the Mad Science Tree found two entirely new forms of Energy around the Ants, both distinct from Magic or any previously detected Energy!

The first type of energy infuses these Ants, the Forest, and any Forest Connected, but seems absent (or present only in trace quantities) from nearly everything else. You previously had difficulty identifying it, since you're so infused with it, but now you know what you're looking at, and can easily recalibrate the Sensing Trees to detect it normally. This energy seems to be connected to Minds and intellect; indeed, this seems to be over half of your means of Connecting with Creatures (or Two Legs), and how you're making Creatures so much smarter.

Connection in general is - as far as you can currently sense - both Psionics and Magic, combined, but modestly more the former than the latter. Arthur Scrat, for the record, has far more Magic in the link than normal, but only modestly more Psionic energy. The Speakers, by contrast, are extraordinary in both categories, compared to a normal Connected Two-Legs.

You now have several new projects, some of which probably require studying and working-with it a bit more to unlock: cheaper Connections, improve Connection Range, and Better Ant rerolls are all immediate projects; Research boosts, pseudo-Magic, and maybe Precognition are all longer-term projects. (These will be shown when you get to vote for the next full turn.)

As a note, the Forest would have probably debated what to call this energy, until it remembered what the Last Star had called it: "Psionic Forest." So: Psionics it is.

Meanwhile, the second form of energy is incredibly-old, slowly decaying, lingering only in trace quantities. Once the Forest's Sensing Trees were recalibrated, you checked, but do not see meaningful amounts of this energy affecting the Forest. It's clinging to the Ant Colony, and you think it has something to do with the Giant Ants' physiology. You suspect this is Wish Magic - and, if so, based on observed rate of decay and the time since the Wish uplifted the Ants - it must have been absurdly powerful back when first made.

How "absurdly powerful"? Well, when the Last Star fires, high-to-max power, on the other side of the planet, you can dimly sense it with your Sensing Trees now, as long as you're not distracted. If a Wish were made, on the other side of the planet, and you had no Sensing Trees, and you metaphorically stuck your fingers in your ears and started chanting "lalallalaa not listening," there is a chance you could miss the Wish. But you'd probably still notice. That - as best as you can calculate and project - is the power of a Wish.

You don't actually have any new project ideas from this - aside from being ready, at last, to start designing Elder Sensing Trees. As a side-note, you now are fairly certain that the Forest was not caused by a Wish - unless, perhaps, it was an indirect side-effect, or the Wish had a self-hiding component (e.g. "I wish that the Forest would wake up and this Wish would not be detectable.")

Meanwhile, the Unpredictable Tree's adventures and travels met with fairly average luck - with its skill letting it get the best of the luck instead of vice-versa - and took a quest on the way to getting that Fast-Travel book.

The quest was, fittingly enough, to help a group of other Mages try to keep the Malice Storm from harming a field of highly-sensitive Magic Flowers, that are particularly useful for Purification (of nearly anything) but an absolute nuisance to keep alive through a Malice Storm.

The Unpredictable Tree briefly mourned the lack of Weather and/or Shield Trees, but was thankfully able to feed energy into a (lesser - but specialized for this task) Shield raised by an ancient Expert Shielder. Meanwhile, every Monster that attacked got one of several possible attacks to the face - with "the Unpredictable Tree throws the last Monster at you" being a particularly-amusing option.

The quest was, thankfully, successful, and the Unpredictable Tree was paid in full and thanked for a job well done. The Unpredictable Tree was not able to Incorporate the Flowers at this point - at least not alone, without spending a truly unconscionable amount of time on the action - but did note their location for later.

By the end of the turn, the Unpredictable Tree had managed to get a full copy of "A Treatise Into Expediting Travel In Various Means, with select quotation from 'Here and There,' 'Dodge This,' 'A Traveler's Guide To Seeing The World,' seven different scholarly works, and no less than sixteen different myths and legends." It was largely a dry, boring read - but it contained full instructions on Portal Magic (three types), Teleportation Magic (four types), Gravity Magic (one type), and alternative Magics for making yourself move faster (eight types). It also contained suggestions for how to acquire helpful Ancient Technology (what to look for, who to buy it from (around twenty-five years dated), etc.), a note that "Legend says most people who manage to Embody an Element were able to use that to move around quite quickly, though this depended on the Element," some notes for making your Defenses resistant to most Movement Magic (the Forest's current Shield can be slightly improved, but should already block e.g. Portals), and a copy-in-full of a two-century-old study of a small child who was able to Teleport without using any known Magic for such - and, indeed, without using internal energy at all, in a manner more reminiscent of Monster abilities or Ancient Technology! (The small child's claims to have been from Zorn, were duly noted then discarded as absurd.)

Aside from Shield-hardening, the Unpredictable Tree found two related methods of Portal/Teleportation Magic that the Forest could use (with considerable work and no small energy expenditure), plus a much easier project to use Movement Magic for faster travel and assistance in combat.

Of course, there is the question of what the Unpredictable Tree wants to seek next…

Unpredictable Tree ONLY:
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Explosives Training
-Upgrade the bonus to both Gunpowder actions to be multiplicative with all other modifiers, and gain an (additive) +50% bonus to building larger rockets.
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Trapping Training
-A true Uzu specialty! Unlocks a 10-point Research-or-Growth-or-Survival Action to multiply effectiveness of Thorns by x2. Further upgrades will be possible.
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Exotic Fruit: Pineapple
-Getting to eat pineapple is supposedly surprisingly easy in this one port-city. But it's all preserved in jars… Of course, they could probably get you a fresh one - for the right price. If you could convince them to trade with a Tree, of course… This pays for an introduction, to bypass that last request - just adventuring for long enough (4-8 turns total, estimated) will likely fix the matter anyway.
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Information on removing curses
-A matter on everyone's minds during the aftermath of the Malice Storm - but the actual implementation and efficacy differ considerably depending on who you ask. Overall average results will grow somewhat less powerful starting Year 3 Spring Turn 1 (unless some other major event occurs), but the odds of being given nearly-useless or faulty information will also somewhat drop (due to every random person no longer being interested and wanting to chime in). This can be taken multiple times, though doing so will probably force you to change regions. Obviously, you did already learn one limited method this turn…
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Save it for later
[ ][Unpredictable Reward] Write-in

(Future suggestions: Information on voidshards/voidshard dust. Exotic Fruit: Coconuts.)

---

One Tree asked Granny Miller about suggestions for improving the Marta Yarrow romance investigation scheme, and she gave four suggestions for how to get them to start interacting: give her someone else's perspective on each of the young men, just give it time, organize a celebration together (which failed last time - so don't try it twice in a row), or contrive an excuse for them to interact. Granny Miller also strongly cautioned you to either handle the matter with such extreme delicacy that she notices nothing until long after, or to be completely upfront about your motives and actions - and definitely don't lie. Whatever you do, do not be sneaky and ham-fisted both simultaneously… unless you want to unite her and her potential love interest in common cause - by annoying them both simultaneously, which could work but… Well.

In any case, a bit of careful work - claiming credit for nothing until Marta Yarrow noticed and asked, and then being completely honest - and by that time she had to admit you had rather helped her. With Zach, it was simply a matter of giving him a week, and letting his normal social skills shine through - leading to several great conversations between the two, including a farcical discussion of the merits and demerits of cheese as a concept. The Forest was fairly certain - and Granny Miller agreed - that the other methods would be necessary for Alex and Peter, and debated between the two possibilities.

Ultimately, Ben Grimm mused aloud to Marta Yarrow that "teenage boys aren't great at indirect communication - I only realized how much I didn't understand when I started being telepathic…" Marta, a few days later, mustered up her courage and talked with Alex again - and they wound up in a long and mutually-enjoyable conversation about an old runic script that was particularly useful in Herbalism.

Meanwhile, the item that tipped Marta off to the Forest's involvement was a contrived situation involving sending Peter and Marta off to find a rare herb, in the aftermath of the Malice Storm. They found the herb, fought a few minor monsters, briefly discussed - and mutually laughed at - their last interaction (or lack thereof), and both (independently) asked the Forest, "you set us up to interact, didn't you?"

Yes. Yes the Forest did. But - and here's the important thing - this time, it worked.

---

Your long work to protect the Elder Void Tree from the Void Dimension (or whatever) is done - at least for now! You aren't completely certain what you have created, exactly - by the end of your work, it felt like you were "constructing a Defense in the normal world, then intentionally destroying it." That was what "constructing a Void Defense" felt like, to you, in some strange way that you can't quite explain.

With defenses up, you did a preliminary exploration of the Void, as well. You seem to have fairly thoroughly befriended the Void Stegosaurus(?), which showed you your immediate vicinity… a land which, as far as you can tell, may or may not actually truly Exist(?) and definitely does not have much object permanence once you take your eyes off of it.

You did, however, find some incredibly rich Void Dirt on one occasion, and take it back for the Void Tree to Grow in.

You also found something that does appear to stay somewhat constant: countless tiny pinpricks radiating trace amounts of energy. While the shape doesn't quite match, you theorize they are the Void-side of the Voidshard Dust in the strange Cave that you (still) haven't explored.

Attempting to pull energy from the Void to the Forest was both difficult and - when you were briefly successful - extremely painful. You loved the idea of "harvest Voidshard energy" - but it's certainly not as easy as all that.

One extra note: The vicinity of every detectable Voidshard became saturated with Malice during the Malice Storm. Thankfully, this effect ended rapidly once the Storm was over.

---

The far-ranging Connection efforts, from so many different sources, gave the Forest some insight into Connection, thus improving the Incorporated Growth action somewhat.

The Forest put in a truly massive effort - assisted by the Grimm siblings - to learn Fire/Water Negacion, and was able to do so, with considerable overflow. While you experience a degree of diminishing returns from multiple similar Negacion Pairs, this is still a massive breakthrough: Fire Resistance doubles again, Water Resistance quadruples, Ice Resistance rises by 50%, Fire attacks gain 50% damage and 2x Fire Suppression Resistance (plus they are now immune to all normal precipitation), your Shaping the Fire Within bonus increases from +25% to +35%, a major bonus to learning Hevel (which proceed to, itself, overflow massively), attempts to attack enemy Fire Within should now be stronger, your Creatures gain Drowning resistance, and you will have -25% difficulty to all future Negaction Pairs involving Water.

With some direct effort joining a massive amount of overflow (plus a major direct boost) from Ice/Fire Negacion, the Forest gained Competence at Steam Magic this turn. This should substantially boost Weather Trees and related actions going forward - and, as previously mentioned, the Forest finished it in the nick of time to fully defend against the Malice Storm. Additionally, the Forest is - by manipulating Weather more broadly and intelligently than previously possible - able to reduce its own effective area, that hostile Weather can affect, by 25%. By better understanding the process of Transpiration - plants (even mundane plants) releasing water vapor through their leaves, which effectively powers their movement of Resources from roots to leaves - the Forest gains an unexpected but appreciated +5% permanent bonus to Survival. The Forest has figured out a Steam-based attack, though it isn't (currently) the Forest's strongest attack (against most possible targets, at least). Finally, the Forest believes that it has most of the understanding necessary for a Steam Engine if it ever truly needed one - the downside would, of course, be 'getting appropriate fuel without paying a ruinous Resource cost.' (Note to players: If you, in some future turn, as a write-in, elect to try to build a Steam Engine - mention the prior sentence to make sure I don't forget.)

You finished the work of integrating Sporing Mushrooms, and their vast list of tricks, into the Forest - for a modest but useful permanent bonus to Forest Growth. Some of these Mushrooms, you have found, often use water-evaporation-based tricks to create a small local updraft, propelling their spores up into the air for better dispersal. You have, of course, been planting your seeds strategically - usually by asking a Squirrel or wielding Telekinesis - but the effectiveness of the Mushrooms with so few options… fascinating. Of course, they also have another advantage: their 'seeds' are miniscule, allowing them to produce an absurd number of them. You can't copy that trick - indeed, your best option is typically 'produce a few really healthy seeds and plant them intelligently,' with you often needing only half-a-dozen seeds per successful plant - but the Mushrooms themselves give you a nice Growth boost.

The Forest mastered the art of creating - and wielding - basic Fireworks. It was fairly easy - merely a matter of a bit of trial and error - to develop small explosives, fuses, and basic rockets. Mixing Gunpowder can now - with some careful shapeshifting - be safely done without even paying attention. Though the Forest lacks an easy way to produce Gunpowder in bulk… The whole matter was eased by the Uzu clan teachings gained by the Unpredictable Tree, and produced (in turn) some minor insights to studying Guns.

With the possibility of invasion, the Forest upgraded its Dangerous Terrain to include Explosive defenses - while making doubly sure that traps wouldn't affect invited residents. Aside from a minor incident with one Squirrel (a third cousin of Arthur Scrat, as it so happens) showing off to another that cost the first an inch of tail and gave it a headful of wisdom, this succeeded nicely. (Overflow to Rain and Shine - aka "Malice Storm Area Defense.")

The Forest expended 13 Resources, but still gained a net 32.99 Resources, managing to end the turn with 262.5 Resources Stored. Automatic Mining continued apace, the Bees continued to grow, yet more Unusual Lumber was stockpiled, and the Forest grew slightly from direct effort and more from passive plant-Connection Growth.

The Forest made progress - but reached no key milestones - on Incorporated Growth, Magic-Drain (just started), Magical Construct Analysis, 'Flesh, Not of My Flesh,' Salamandastron, Incorporate Plant: Blackberries and Raspberries (overflow from Sporing Mushrooms), Incorporate Plant: Aranion, Research Advanced Movement, Design Magic Weapons and Armor, Study Illusions, "Mortal, Finite, Temporary," Between Silence and Music, "Fireworks, Gandalf!", Reverse-engineer Firearms, What A Tangled Web We Weave (Magic Elements), and upgrading the last Lens Tree to Elder.

The Bone/Flesh/Soul Tree attempted to figure out how to grow something more like an Animal - but so far has met with no success. The attempt did, however, produce significant insights to Flesh Magic (+2.5 successes).

One Mind Tree tried to Research Natural Magic, and discovered less than hoped for - but had some insights related to the Magic-Drain project. Another tried to study Sensing Trees, and while it made no breakthroughs, it had some insights on Monster Energy (an inevitably-common testcase, on this turn). A third attempted to experiment with producing organic Gunpowder or equivalents and made minor progress that will assist the Forest's Firearms research. (+1 each)

Yet another Mind Tree - the one interested in Music - made a more modest attempt at Music, with more success than last time. The Tree seems to be getting the hang of music-as-such, though occasional disagreements (based on differing ear/equivalent structures - and differing Minds, for that matter) about what sounds count as Music have surfaced. Even between different Creatures of the Forest, for that matter. This also assisted the Between Silence and Music project (another +1).

Another Tree managed to create Speaker Nuts, Nuts which produced controllable (generally higher-pitched) Sound when given a bit of Energy. These weren't quite the intended result, but you believe you failed at that due to lack of significant Sound Element skill. This also assisted the Between Silence and Music project (yet another +1).

One Tree manages to get a set of Living Armor working adequately. It's a bit bulky and heavy for its defensive value, but it works. Some further analysis suggests that - at least until the Forest gets access to Living Plant materials that are far tougher - you will probably be best off to start with a mundane non-Living suit of Armor but add Living bits in certain locations to augment the whole thing with limited-but-potentially-potent self-regeneration and Spellcasting abilities. The same, with minimal tweaks, should go for Weapons. The exception to this conclusion would be "anywhere close enough to the Forest for you to economically supply the Weapons/Armor with Energy."

The Fungi Tree, in its steady work improving the Forest's Fungal Network, happened upon a modest lead deposit buried deep underground. If mined, this could potentially be useful for firearms at some later date, among other things…

---

Actions, Turn 29 Combat Round 1

This Combat Round is not actually a single contiguous segment of time. Rather, it represents the "minute here, half-hour there" of combat against the irregularly-attacking Monsters.

As such, instead of taking an Action listed here, you may take any normal Action, to represent "putting in extra effort to this Action during the turn, ignoring Combat and entrusting it to your fellow Trees." The resulting Action will have only 12.5% of normal effectiveness, however (multiplicative to all other modifiers), due to the Combat Round representing only a tiny fraction of the total available time.

Some Actions and effects are already present from the Turn and are guaranteed (barring truly extraordinary effects) to be present in this Combat Round:

• Laser: 1.14 effective successes
• Sword: 0.5 base successes
• Elder Defender Ent acts twice (once for Turn; once for Combat Round)
• Your allies will do things - particularly note Materson, and (just for grins) the TK-Bear.

In general, assuming you put up a decent Shield (and Veil), you can't really lose from failing the Combat Round. But you can lose chunks of Resources, Newton Village (or the Irn Refugees) could take damage - or just be annoyed at how blasé you are being, and you might lose opportunities to gain the Resources or possibly even special bonuses from defeating Monsters. The Forest is assumed to eventually defeat any incoming Monster - but the better your Offense/Defense/etc. this Round, the better the overall result.

Spoiler: 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] Coordinate Two-Legs
-Work with the residents of Newton Village and the Irn Refugees on your defense.
-This action is synergetic with Analyze Foes.
-The Speaking Tree will automatically assist this Action (2 auto-successes).
-Thresholds unknown, but every success probably helps.

[ ][Action] Coordinate Creatures
-Work with your various Creatures - including Arthur Scrat - on your defense.
-This action is synergetic with Analyze Foes.
-The Speaking Tree will automatically assist this Action (2 auto-successes).
-Thresholds unknown, but every success probably helps.

[ ][Action] Disorient Foes
-Monsters, especially Monsters brimming with this much malice, don't seem easy to reason with. But disorienting them is much easier, and adequate to your (and your Allies) defense.
-Thresholds unknown, but every success probably helps.
-Sufficient success improves odds of acquiring a powerful/interesting Monster - or at least removing some of the Malice from it and convincing it to be friendly/neutral.

Spoiler: 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; this will currently be activated if the turn will still have a net Resource gain). Your Well-Ordered Mind and Truth Magic level each grant +5%. Typically this totals +95%.
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.)

[ ][Action] Rock Hunting (Magic Research)
-Try to figure out exactly what Rock was described by the Seer Tree's Vision.
-And destroy it. Or maybe study and suborn it.
-This gets a +50% bonus from various factors (prior experience, Mining Tree, advice, etc.).
-Every two successes in this project grant a success to The Earth Of Your Roots (Magic Elements). (Depending on outcome, a portion of those bonus successes may instead go to a novel Esoteric Research Action.)
-0 of ??? successes

[ ][Action] Analyze Foes
-Many monsters are attacking. What are they? How do they work? How do we kill them? …Can we learn any interesting techniques from them?
-This action is synergetic with Coordinate Two-Legs and Coordinate Creatures.
-Each base success in this Action gives +0.05 base successes to Monster Energy.
-Thresholds unknown, but every success probably helps.

[ ][Action] Assist Targeting
-Ensure no attacks go awry, everything on Fire gets put out, and a minimum of the Forest's capabilities are blatantly seen by outsiders.
-While the Forest is larger (and has more potential attacks) than previously, it should be somewhat easier since the fight shouldn't be happening in Newton Village.
-0 of 3/10/??? successes

[ ][Action] Illusion Search
-Double-check that there aren't any nearby Illusions.
-Massively easier (to the point that it isn't a required or strongly-suggested) Action, due to your extensive recent work in resisting Illusions.
-???

Spoiler: Survival

Note: Manipulating the tiny bits of Fire Within every living thing grants +35% to all Survival successes. The Elder Lens Trees grant +30% to all Survival successes. Life skill grants +10% to all Survival successes. Steam Magic grants +5% to Survival from better understanding of Transpiration. Total: +80%.

(Store Resources Against Future Need: currently 262.5 stored. Not a Combat Round Action in this case. But, yes, walliseatscheese can (and should) take it again, just for greatly reduced effect.)

[ ][Action] Assist <Creatures / Old Man Materson / Ben Grimm / Newton / Irn>
-Help out - Magically and otherwise - a given ally. This will boost their effective combat power and durability against all Monsters and other threats this turn.
-Thresholds unknown.

Spoiler: 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.
-The Shields have boosted resistance to Shield-piercing and -draining effects.
-Gains about 12.9 (3 + 30% of the Active Specialized Defense Dice) 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*1.04 * (1+3.7) >5 successes per turn, so this automatically succeeds every turn. (If at least one player votes for it, the normal Empty Tree will also activate.)
-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.
-The ability to make them explode on demand adds +50% to the damage dealt.
-31.96 of 40 stockpiled.

Spoiler: Offense

Note: Study of Death Magic grants +10% to all Offense successes. You can optionally make any Magic attack Shield-piercing, dividing enemy Shields by 8 but halving attack power.

[ ][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 and explosive payloads allows you to deal 2x 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. This attack has an additional x1.5 damage against Monsters, or related abilities, due to attacking their Connection to the Source of their abilities.
-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 1:3 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.
-This may be imbued with Fire Magic to give it a much higher chance of setting things on Fire, as well as further damaging enemies that are weak to Fire (at the cost of slightly reducing damage against enemies that are immune to Fire).
-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.
-Damage 3x and suppression resistance 8x, courtesy of Ice/Fire and Water/Fire Negacion Pairs.

[ ][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
[ ][Action] Water/Fire Negacion
-What?
-Combine Ice-or-Water and Fire, to attack your foes.
-All damage tripled, stacking multiplicatively with other effects.
-Will cheerfully function underwater, and will attack the weakest of Ice Resistance, Fire Resistance, and Water Resistance.

[ ][Action] Snuff Out the Fire Within
-What foe?
-Snuff out the tiny bits of Fire Within a given living thing.
-This wouldn't work on, say, the Lesser Wraith or a handful of similarly-unusual Monsters.
-It does a baseline of x4 (base) x2 (Water/Fire) = 8x damage against a foe with absolutely no Magic Resistance. However, even the most mundane of Creatures has enough Magic Resistance to divide this by 4, for a total of x2 damage - a foe with truly significant Magic and/or Magic Resistance would tend to be far less affected.

[ ][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.
-Damage multiplied by 1.5x by Movement skill. This will involve using contraptions as part of the Tree, attacking enemies independently of the Tree's main branches.

[ ][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.

[ ][Action] Weather Manipulation
-Using the Elder Weather Tree, the Forest can potentially change the weather quickly and accurately enough to affect Combat. This is far more powerful in, say, a thunderstorm than a sunny day.
-Ask the GM if your request is practical. During a full Turn you will almost always get a chance to use this, but it might not be practical in a particular Combat Round (depending on surrounding weather and sheer dumb luck).

[ ][Action] Steam Attack
-What foe?
-Hit an opponent with extremely-hot Steam.
-The big limit to this one is simple: "it costs a lot of energy to make Steam." So the base damage is x0.75. That said, this has major bonuses if you already have a source of free Heat / Steam.
-Few foes have a direct Resistance to this, but sufficient Heat/Fire Resistance can massively reduce damage.

[ ][Action] Bee Afraid (Bees)
-You lack sufficient bees to have more than 5+9.65=14.65 successes/turn (before multipliers).
-Bees will automatically contribute 4 auto-successes per turn.
-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. It also has a +15% bonus from Fire Within.
-Unknown effectiveness. Unlikely to affect the incorporeal-things or the flaming dog-things, you'd guess?

Most Elements (Competent or higher) and all current Negacions (Competent or higher) can be used as Attacks; if one is not listed, it's probably an oversight on my part - though common sense applies (e.g. the Forest has no meaningful ability to attack most Monsters with Truth, though perhaps it might be used in an anti-Shadow Spinner attack).

Spoiler: 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
…

AutoFocus ignored, as usual for Combat Rounds.

Allies
If you have any specific suggestions for our Allies, feel free to vote for them (with the usual format). They are not guaranteed to do what you vote - unless, perhaps, there is a truly overwhelming response in favor of a certain Action - but will take any suggestions as advice.

Spynet Response
[ ][Spynet Response] Please vote by plan

 

[Robinton]

Elder Tree upgrades
@Fabricati, 12 total actions; Heart Tree; 5 Survival; 3 Special; 2 Defense; 2 Offense - Elder Heart or Eldest. Maybe others.
@zinay, 9 total actions; Heart Tree; 9 Survival - Survival or Elder Heart. Maybe others.
Anyone previously mentioned who hasn't upgraded yet.

---

Bad news: I'll be mostly offline until late Sunday, so no replies until then (yes I know I owe you all about two pages of them).
Good news: I'm hoping and expecting the Combat turn will be relatively easy and short and I can post the results around Halloween. (Spooky monsters - I'll inevitably include at least one.)

 

[HeruKane]

OMG this is awesome! Thank you thank you thank you!

Will read and make my combat action choice soon! Soooo much to take in!

Actually, question. What is our vote structure look like this combat turn?

 

[Jack727]

[X] [Action] Raise the Shield

I've seen the light or rather the lack of it. Realms twisting and turning as time as the axel, Starlight above but what lies below?

Vampires. We live above a missile bunker. Think about it, Sword of fire underground, Rocks talking using exotic waves, Vampires fear the sun and the last star turned their victory to ash. Did they hide below or did someone else do it? The void shards hide so much. So much lost, Magic and tech. It makes too much sense, a cabal of vampires hollowed out the earth to hide from the sky, They become too old so even hearing of the surface would kill them so they lost contact and the vamps that knew died to the star.

In more practical theory craft how about a shield of shards. Make a weak shield in the real then break it and use that to create a shield in the void. Also veil of void make a magnifying effect around the forest then disable it and use it to make an obscuring effect in the void.

Also to be safe, delete the rocks.

 

[HeruKane]

I have to comment on one thing immediately- I want us to have a Void Stegasorious Bro!!!

 

[The Froggy Ninja]

[X][Action] Man(Tree?) the sensing trees, helping to focus their sensors and filter the data for trees more focused on analysis or targeting.

 

[Box Lunch]

[X][Action] Empty Veil (Void)

I have to comment on one thing immediately- I want us to have a Void Stegasorious Bro!!!

Click to shrink...

Our off-screen rivals-to-friends arc was so magnificent, I wish you could have seen it.
Fort Exodus stands unrivaled!

 

[BeepSmile]

Not sure how to vote for it/if it's an option, but I'd like to do some variant of "Destructive Research, Death Magic" if possible?

Get some practice at death magic, and if I roll well I'll also boost our offence/reduce incoming harm(/deaths)?

 

[HeruKane]

So I'm curious if I could do some sort of Magic Attack that uses multiple magics we have because I'm a multi-Magic focused Tree.

---

Also the reveal of multiple energy sources is super interesting, as is our potential to probably tap into them if we try due to our multi-natured nature. Such cool stuff this post!

Oh. Oh. Rereading the magic post in Information, honestly I bet we would probably be good with Soul Magics in time. Probably the Connections ability would lead to us going that route. If we wanted to.

So I know that we are in a combat round but I do want to figure out what steps we still need before we can take the Study the Elements or Foundations of Magic or Magic Principles action. Which I think would be super fun and is totally my goal - I want to be an archmage wizard tree, to know and do all the magics! hehe

 

[Phigment]

Excellent update. Lots of stuff happened there. Big turn.

[X][Unpredictable Reward] Save it for later


And now, my friends of the Uzu Clan, I must go. My people need me.

[X] Return to the forest with my new book on travel magic. Try to do it magically, but if that doesn't work, just start walking.

 

[Razzocnor]

Not sure how to vote for it/if it's an option, but I'd like to do some variant of "Destructive Research, Death Magic" if possible?

Get some practice at death magic, and if I roll well I'll also boost our offence/reduce incoming harm(/deaths)?

Click to shrink...

Things like that are usually accepted. Destructive testing of combat-applicable things works well in a situation like this.

I just want to note a few things:

1. Vampires fear future us enough that they have established an organization dedicated to hating trees in particular.

2. I think the spy is the Miniature Roc! It's a small rock capable of spying!

3. Marta should be scanned for Misfortune magic.

4. I think someone corrupted the Elves magic supply to create the Malice Source. Ir something like that. Pure Elves can't survive because their external power supply is broken or corrupted.

 

[fictionfan]

[X][Action] Bee Afraid (Bees)

I am the Bee tree I speak for the bees.

 

[Robot # 207]

Aw Yeah, We're Back!
What to do... (Should probably get more Defense actions, I'm very unbalanced in that aspect)

 

[KSn5Ynoh]

[X][Action] Analyze Foes

Always good to know more about our primary enemies.

 

[Space Jawa]

[X][Combat] Coordinate with the Two-Legs to know where they are most at risk of being harmed.
-[X] Exploit Personal Mobility to maximum effect, jumping in to provide combat support wherever support is most needed.
--[X] Focus on 1) Using Monsters as blunt weapons against other monsters; 2) Throwing Monster at other Monsters; 3) Lobbing Monsters through the air (aim for altitude and distance).

---

So I've got an idea for how to approach the new twist in the Woo Clan Spynet and I don't know if it falls under "Too Crazy To Work" or "Just Crazy Enough To Work"

[ ][Spynet Response] Orchestrate a plot to convince the Woo clan that the security breach is because they have traitors in their midst, manipulating them into destroying themselves as they seek out traitors that don't actually exist.

One Tree asked Granny Miller about suggestions for improving the Marta Yarrow romance investigation scheme, and she gave four suggestions for how to get them to start interacting: give her someone else's perspective on each of the young men, just give it time, organize a celebration together (which failed last time - so don't try it twice in a row), or contrive an excuse for them to interact. Granny Miller also strongly cautioned you to either handle the matter with such extreme delicacy that she notices nothing until long after, or to be completely upfront about your motives and actions - and definitely don't lie. Whatever you do, do not be sneaky and ham-fisted both simultaneously… unless you want to unite her and her potential love interest in common cause - by annoying them both simultaneously, which could work but… Well.

In any case, a bit of careful work - claiming credit for nothing until Marta Yarrow noticed and asked, and then being completely honest - and by that time she had to admit you had rather helped her. With Zach, it was simply a matter of giving him a week, and letting his normal social skills shine through - leading to several great conversations between the two, including a farcical discussion of the merits and demerits of cheese as a concept. The Forest was fairly certain - and Granny Miller agreed - that the other methods would be necessary for Alex and Peter, and debated between the two possibilities.

Ultimately, Ben Grimm mused aloud to Marta Yarrow that "teenage boys aren't great at indirect communication - I only realized how much I didn't understand when I started being telepathic…" Marta, a few days later, mustered up her courage and talked with Alex again - and they wound up in a long and mutually-enjoyable conversation about an old runic script that was particularly useful in Herbalism.

Meanwhile, the item that tipped Marta off to the Forest's involvement was a contrived situation involving sending Peter and Marta off to find a rare herb, in the aftermath of the Malice Storm. They found the herb, fought a few minor monsters, briefly discussed - and mutually laughed at - their last interaction (or lack thereof), and both (independently) asked the Forest, "you set us up to interact, didn't you?"

Yes. Yes the Forest did. But - and here's the important thing - this time, it worked.

Click to shrink...

While I'm glad this was successful, it's been so long that I can't actually remember anything about Marta's three potential suitors anymore.

 

[DecaffeinatedOwl]

Two additional notes: First, you now have a name for the "fang crossed with an enchanted axe" organization! They are the Society Against Wooden Invaders Needing General Annihilation, and are controlled at the highest levels by some of the Vampires that have managed to survive the Last Star. The current members believe the organization predates the Cataclysm, and is devoted to stopping Thinking Trees from becoming any sort of world power. As there are typically only about three reports per century per continent, and over half of them are clearly false, they also coordinate with any other Vampiric plot in the area - though it's clear they're only told about important information after the fact. That said, you can only read the Minds of their lower-rank members; their higher-rank individuals are shut to you.

Second, attempting to Mind-read one of those higher members - a female Luck Mage - seems to have tipped her off that something odd happened. Before you knew it, a highly-improbable chain of events - only exacerbated by the attempts you made to halt it - led to a Woo Clan Operative Magically sending a message in, before he could be stopped: "Unknown force able to bypass Spynet defenses."

Ah.

So, you're on the clock now. They know something is up. They will be, over the upcoming turn, sending out who-knows-what orders. Do you want to try to stall for one more turn - to get yet more of the Spynet? They don't yet know you - only that their Spynet protocols need redone, and even that they might disregard, and will probably not fully stop you (but rather force you to take a new Decryption Action). On the other hand, you can already, if you act and act well, subvert or destroy the fractions of the Woo Clan Spynet covering roughly three-quarters of their perimeter…

[ ][Spynet Response] Please vote by plan

Click to shrink...

Alright, so. SAWINGA and the Woo Clan knows the spy net has been infiltrated, and because we manage to get close enough to attempt to mind-read a high-ranking member of SAWINGA, they know the infiltration must reach well into the innermost rings.

There's two responses they're going to do: firstly, they verify their inner rings are clean as far down as they are willing to, then burn the rest. And secondly, that they isolate an operative they know is subverted and investigate how exactly it was done. The former means we lose the opportunity to subvert the rest of the network, the latter presents a grave risk that they'll finger us and develop effective countermeasures against our mind reading.

We don't have offensive options lined up to kill the Woo Clan yet, so it's imperative that we maintain our access into the Spynet, and that they believe that they've seen us off.

So, first draft, do not vote for.

[ ][Spynet Response] Preemptive Decryption
-[ ]Develop and implement a cruder subversion method using different avenues from what we've been using. Use that to interact with our subverted Woo Clan assets going forward, particularly those in the middle rings. We're going to use that as a cover to preserve our current methods.
-[ ]Accelerate subversion efforts. Focus on infiltrating up the ranks versus across--the innermost rings are the most likely ones to be 'reused' and get new versions of the Spynet protocol instead of getting burned. Avoid SAWINGA members where possible.
-[ ]Standby to observe the implantation of the new Spynet protocol if and when it happens so we have a head start on

 

[wrecksalot]

[X][Action] Upgrade Lens Tree

I'm a really specialized growth tree, and thorns seem boring so I'll just start upgrading another Lens tree.

 

[Randino Treviani]

And, with a massive chunk of insight from learning Water/Fire Negacion, the Forest managed to finish this project around the sixth day of the Malice Storm.

Click to shrink...

When you just do your thing as always and it saves your ass.

[ ][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.
-Damage 3x and suppression resistance 8x, courtesy of Ice/Fire and Water/Fire Negacion Pairs.

[ ][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
[ ][Action] Water/Fire Negacion
-What?
-Combine Ice-or-Water and Fire, to attack your foes.
-All damage tripled, stacking multiplicatively with other effects.
-Will cheerfully function underwater, and will attack the weakest of Ice Resistance, Fire Resistance, and Water Resistance.

Click to shrink...

Which of these would be most effective for me to use in the threads opinion? I've actually never participated in combat before, but...

14 in (Magic) 14 in (Magic Research) 14 in (Magic Elements)​

2​

2​

2​

2​

2​

2​

1​

Spoiler RandyTrevelyan

Click to shrink...

I have 14 dice to magic, so I should be highly effective. That said, I'm not sure what to do with. Ice/Fire Negacion would definitely be effective and hard to counter, but I don't know whether it would be more effective than just casting F!Pf!B!, or maybe the thread would rather I heap hindrance on foes with icy blast so we can capture them for later connection?

Also I am the above tree I just changed my name a few months ago while roleplaying for a quest very sincerely.

Edit. I could also focus on rock hunting if the thread feels my contribution to the battle isn't needed(It hasn't been in the past)

 

[The Commander]

[X][Action] Analyze Foes
[X][Focus] Rock Hunting
[X][Focus] Rock Hunting x2
[X][Focus] Analyze Foes
[X][Focus] Analyze Foes x2



We are under Attack!

 

[Razzocnor]

When you just do your thing as always and it saves your ass.

Which of these would be most effective for me to use in the threads opinion? I've actually never participated in combat before, but...

I have 14 dice to magic, so I should be highly effective. That said, I'm not sure what to do with. Ice/Fire Negacion would definitely be effective and hard to counter, but I don't know whether it would be more effective than just casting F!Pf!B!, or maybe the thread would rather I heap hindrance on foes with icy blast so we can capture them for later connection?

Also I am the above three I just changed my name a few months ago while roleplaying for a quest very sincerely.

Click to shrink...

In terms of raw power, Light/Darkness Lasers are our most powerful attack.
If you want to help some with research, destructive testing on Fire/ Negation pairs would still be highly effective and might contribute towards the project to achieve a Fire/Ice/Water trio.

I am thinking on how to work my Magical Biology research into an offensive option...

Aw Yeah, We're Back!
What to do... (Should probably get more Defense actions, I'm very unbalanced in that aspect)

Click to shrink...

You could always try to invent one! Think of something Defensive you could do that isn't covered yet, and try doing it!

 

[DecaffeinatedOwl]

Thinking further, I really should ask before I assume SAWINGA and Woo are closely allied.

@Robinton , what were the circumstances when we tried to read the Luck Mage? Was it just 'undirected' bad luck that the Woo Clan operative sent out the message they did, or did she specifically aim for that outcome?

 

[LinkOnScepter]

[X][Focus] Laser Beam
-[X] target aggressive enemy monsters
[X][Focus] Shoot Spikes
-[X] target aggressive enemy monsters
-[X] Use all the extra bells and whistles. Metal tips, exploding spikes, etc.
[X][Focus] Raise the Shield
[X][Focus] Coordinate Creatures

[X][Squirrel] Defend the Forest!
[X][Deer] Defend the Forest
[X][Moles] Healing and support
[X][Beavers] Maintain the forest traps.
[X][Bees] Defend the Forest
[X][Ants] Keep out creatures clean
[X][Wolves] Defend the Forest
[X][Corvids] Scout for trouble
[X][Bears] Defend the Forest
[X][Dire Bat] Try to convince wild dire bats to join the forest, if you can do that safely.
[X][Lesser Wraith] Defend the Forest
[X][Lesser Fire Salamander] Defend the Forest
[X][Speaker] Coordinate Creatures
[X][Speaker] Coordinate Creatures x2
[X][Herbalist] Healing and Support
[X][Steve Robertson] Defend the forest with epic swordsmanship

[X][Spynet Response] Orchestrate a plot to convince the Woo clan that the security breach is because they have traitors in their midst, manipulating them into destroying themselves as they seek out traitors that don't actually exist.

[X][Combat] Coordinate with the Two-Legs to know where they are most at risk of being harmed.
-[X] Exploit Personal Mobility to maximum effect, jumping in to provide combat support wherever support is most needed.
--[X] Focus on 1) Using Monsters as blunt weapons against other monsters; 2) Throwing Monster at other Monsters; 3) Lobbing Monsters through the air (aim for altitude and distance).

 

[Razzocnor]

I might actually advocate for rooting out the Spynet now. We won't have a better chance to ruin it, and the Mayor is already catching on. If we make it public and widespread enough we could obfuscate the exact source, and more importantly completely ruin the Woo Clan's subversive efforts for quite a while while they deal with 75% of their spy network getting uprooted. They're on guard now and any further prodding is just going to make it more and more likely they figure out what's up.

Besides, I don't want to let them still have their spynet. We have super-well-disguised mind-reading tree-spies to do our spying for us, we don't need theirs (as our subversion efforts have plainly shown).