Right, I think we should introduce ourselves. We need information and theres nothing better then greatful parents. Be prepared to ward off blows if they think you harmed the pup at first but don't retaliate. Let the pup tell them you are alright.

Yeah, escort missions are a bit of a drag. As is raising kids in general. Luckily, he'll be someone else's problem before long. :V

And hey, you might be a big scary monster, but you come bearing lost children and flowers. I'm sure you'll be well received!

Maybe we can find someone who knows something useful, like old legends or something that might be relevant to you. Maybe someone who speaks the same language?

You don't need this village in order to survive, and someone there might know more about you than you want known. You might make a better impression if the kid acts as your liason. Of course they won't believe what he says, but that'll still make them treat you well when they do discover you and must believe him. Might be wise to practice caution, at least until you've gotten the kid to teach you some of the words they know. And you him of course. Fair exchange.

If they start mobbing up to build a pyre you'll definitely want to intervene, but it'll take weeks for them to get to that point I'd hope, even if they think the kid is possessed or something.

just drop the kid off at his home then get the hell out of there. if you think just one of these damn things are bad do you really want to be in a entire village of them

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/05(Fri)16:47 No. 504080 ID: a80db9
File 136520563124.png - (150.41KB , 400x450 , EscortEnd.png )

>>492040
>>492041

You're probably right. There is more risk in revealing myself now than there is in the possibility of making allies.

Ha ha ha! Race you home, last one there is a slowbutt!

I will return to the forest for now. Perhaps when I have recovered enough to at least defend myself I shall come back.

Speaking of which....

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/05(Fri)17:02 No. 504085 ID: 06f13f
File 136520656072.png - (148.45KB , 400x450 , EscortEnd2.png )

... I believe I am ready for another aspect repair.

Shall I continue repairing the Floral path, or should I open the Arboreal or Fungal aspect?

I sense that I should choose carefully - while I am certain I can return to full strength eventually, I worry that it will take an increasingly long time before I can repair again. Already it took a full day to get to this point, when the first time I think only took a morning.

Opening more aspects will doubtless give me more versatility, but I believe that each aspect will become increasingly more powerful as I repair it.

What shall I do?

Let's keep stacking floral.

Flowery treedog go!

Remember mushroom = attack, tree = defense, flower = charisma

Arboreal. We've shown ourselves to be terrible at diplomacy so I'm forced to believe that further stacking in the Floral path would be wasted effort.

Honestly I agree, we've had chances to diplomacize and we've wasted it.... this village is just the latest strike against it.

Aboreal.

Tree. (I love the background btw)

Arboreal. In the short term we need to be harder to kill, and in the long term healing and defense synergise nicely.

well if we are going to follow the "when words fail there are always fist" path (try talking and then beat the crap out of it if it doesn't like what we're saying) then yeah Aboreal would help alot in that second department as we seem to get the crap kicked out of us alot. I mean first with that trap back at the cave, then us falling down the mountain, and finally with those two whatacallits back when we saved the kid, something that lets us take a little extra damage almost seems to be a must.

Level Up! Kaed 2013/04/08(Mon)12:09 No. 504596 ID: 4c4a92
File 136544815654.png - (150.49KB , 450x400 , SkillTree.png )

>Arboreal for defense

Hmm... good point, though I'm pretty sure that aspect is for more than just defense.

It shall be done.

sweet,
...so what do they do exactly?

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/08(Mon)14:09 No. 504616 ID: 4c4a92
File 136545535083.png - (218.70KB , 450x400 , LevelUp2.png )

>>504599

Opening the arboreal aspect has begun to regain me some of my old leaves. I vaguely remember having a much more magnificent set of leafy branches... but these will do for now, I will be able to use the sun more efficiently.

As for my Treesense... well, I'm able to detect the presence of nearby trees, along with their type, health, and age. This will probably be a more useful ability when I have advanced farther in this aspect.

I'm not sure of the maximum range, but I think I can channel some of my stored energy to widen it...

so what's our goal now? find more flowers, wonder around a bit to see if we can't find something else interesting or just mess around with our new powers? cause if we have nothing better to do we might as well see what our limit is with the powers, so go ahead and see how far your seance can go.

Hmm. Honestly, I'm not sure what use tree-sense is in a forest. It's like dowsing for water while out to sea.

well let's hug a tree and see if we can do anything to it.

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/08(Mon)17:54 No. 504684 ID: c971d5
File 136546888828.png - (187.01KB , 450x400 , Decisions.png )

>>504620
Mmmm, it is currently of limited use, I suppose, yes. But as I said, later it may turn out to be extraordinarily helpful.

>>504646
I'm not sure that would serve any useful purpose. The trees in this forest are lovely, but I wouldn't want to give them the wrong idea...

>>504619
Testing our abilities is an excellent idea, I agree, but I can't help but ponder now about the aimlessness of our wandering.

I cannot simply wander randomly forever, nothing lasting would ever be accomplished.

No... I think what I need is to find some place I can designate to return to, that I can cultivate my works in when I am not exploring. A sanctum, of sorts.

But where? I could use the mountains, which would give me a better knowledge of the surrounding terrain, along with greater isolation... stone offers limited opportunities to grow things in, though.

Alternatively, this forest would have much less visibility of my surroundings, but be easier to hide in. However, much less freedom to escape.

Could we expand our possibilities? Try to gain or combine more advantages? Maybe where the forest meets or begins to climb the mountain? Or could we search for a forest valley between mountains?

I think the forest sounds better, because out powers are plant-based, after all.

maybe we can find a large hill in the forest to set up camp at, it wont be a mountain but it still is better at seeing the surrounding land then just staying on the forest floor.

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/10(Wed)18:24 No. 505136 ID: e42a0c
File 136564348172.gif - (397.33KB , 450x400 , TreeSense.gif )

Hmm... perhaps it would be best to use my Treesense to find a suitable haven...

so what do you see?

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/11(Thu)11:23 No. 505264 ID: b0cbd4
File 136570463073.gif - (439.88KB , 450x400 , TreeSense2.gif )

>>505141

I see... a lot, but not as much as I probably could, given more reservers of energy.

The forest appears to have spread northward from wherever it originated, as the distribution of trees gets generally older towards the south. There seems to be two paths lacking trees in the forest, but the other one is probably stream I found earlier - I expect it winds through much of the forest the forest.

I have found two possible locations for a sanctum within the forest, and each of them have their own benefits.

To the east, there is an ancient bower tree, somewhat older than the forest around it. Bower trees provide an excellent shelter, and thier deep stability would make it difficult to oust me once I am established there. However, bower trees do not mingle well with other plants. They control the soil they are rooted in, and provide no nutrients for other trees to grow in. A few flowers would probably be fine, but I will be unable to cultivate much else.

To the west is a swath of forest that is almost empty. There are several firebark saplings growing inside it, so whatever trees were in there probably burned down a within the last decade - firebark seeds only sprout after a forest fire wakes them up. This place would provide little in the way of shelter, but it's also almost a clean slate - I would be able to do anything I like with it. It is also bigger than the bower tree's territory.

Additionally, I thought I should note that I discovered some fruit trees inside the village to the south - this probably isn't relevant right now, but it might be later on.

Damn tree GPS sure is handy.

I say go to the west! Lets make a fresh start since we too are just a sapling yet.
What are the yellow dots on the map?

I like the sound of the western fixer upper. We may be left out in the cold (so to speak) in the beginning but since we could do whatever we want with it I'm sure we could make something pretty defendable some point down the line. We also don't really have any enemies right now so we don't really need the protection of the older tree and if we do make some enemies down the line i'm sure we'll have made some progress on the western field by that point.

I like the sound of the young grove. We wanna do thinks, make your mark, grow. The old guard seems less conducive to that.

do you have to settel on just one?
maybe go West and start up the growing, then head over to the bower to rest?
if that isnt a option, then i second the west vote.

>>505264
what are those gold points?
what are those purple spots to the south?
i vote going west, we have no enemies yet so we should have time to set up a good base before we shake any trees so to speak.

>>505279
oh good idea! backup bases are good!

Might be a good idea to check out both places before deciding. You know, not just to explore and find new flowers to eat and all that, but because there may be something there we don't notice with Treesense. Oh, and what do the colours mean? Are the purples the fruit trees you were talking about? Can we eat flowers from trees as well as regular flowers?

No backup bases! We're making an entirely binary decision! No creativity allowed!

Anyway, I'd say that the western location is the more promising of the two but that we should check out the larger of those two gold spots on the way. Since they look potentially awesome.

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/14(Sun)15:17 No. 505729 ID: 06f13f
File 136597783852.png - (258.55KB , 450x400 , ForestWalk.png )

>>505279
>>505673

.... Of course I can go to either of them, but as they are roughly half a daytime's walk apart, traveling between them constantly would waste much precious time. It will take me around a quarter of the daylight available to just to reach the clearing, and there isn't much I can do at night, especially with my Fungal aspect closed.

>purple dots?
Those are the fruit trees in the village that I mentioned earlier. There don't seem to be any others anywhere nearby, so they were probably cultivated.

>Yellow dots??

Ahhh... those are the grown firebark trees, and probably the source of the saplings in the clearing. Interestingly enough, they are within a mass of Mistbank trees, which seems odd considering this forest doesn't really seem to have them anywhere else. Perhaps they were planted to cover up the results of an even more ancient forest fire?

nothing 2013/04/14(Sun)15:56 No. 505741 ID: 9ddf68

the hell is that eye thing? so it seems we are going west then, Ok so any idea of what you want to do with the place or if you don't have anything just tell us what you can do with it and we'll tell you what we think would be best.

and as for the two base thing, well I get the feeling that we are going to have to grow our base and that doesn't happen over night (unless you have some kind of power that you haven't told us about yet) so when we are waiting for one of our bases to finish doing whatever it is we want it to do we could walk to the other one (the old tree) and set up a sort of back up base/outpost encase we chose to do any exploring. I mean having two bases would mean we wouldn't have to worry as much if we decided to move feather away from our main base if we have an outpost we could use near where we're exploring right?

Is there something near the top of the tree? (either the eye, or the yellow thing)

what are mistbank trees?

>>505729
you don't sleep and you have nothing to do during the night. i don't see why not travel between them over night, it's not like you have anything to fear. later we'll be able to quick travel, but for now overnight travel is fine.

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/15(Mon)13:29 No. 505903 ID: 1fcf1d
File 136605774799.jpg - (149.90KB , 450x400 , EmptyField.jpg )

>Eye?
What eye? I don't see an eye anywhere...

>what are mistbank trees?
Mistbanks are a breed of coniferous tree that absorbs large amounts of water from its surroundings and produces mist from its needles. Enough of them grouped together create a perpetually fogbound forest, unless it is too hot - during Highfire season their mist usually clears out, and a grown firebark tree of course tends to dissolve mist in an area around it.

>>505854
This is true for now, yes, but in the future I may have things I need to do during the night, too.

As it is, the point is moot for the moment. I have arrived at the clearing. As anticipated, there are a number of firebark saplings in various stages of growth, but otherwise this is all a clean slate to work with.

>>505741
Hmm. The pure potential of the place leaves me with more options than are probably feasible to consider at the moment. But it occurs to me I could perhaps transplant the firebark saplings to their own section of the clearing, to give more room for other things that might not like the heat they'll give off.

Thinking back at the mistback grove, perhaps I can plant some of them in the clearing, as they would give it cover when they finish growing - likely I will be able to help them along long before the years it would normally take, so don't worry about that part.

Another thing I'm wondering is setting up a part of it as an orchard. While the village seems to have the only fruit trees in some distance, that doesn't mean there are no seeds about, or other trees I haven't noticed yet. It's even possible I could slip in during the night some time to pilfer a few fruits, assuming we have not established relations with the village at that point.

I could also start a flower garden, a local area where I can grow all sorts of different flowers in one place that is not on my branches. Perhaps doing that, I could eventually work in bees to the equation.

I'm... out of ideas otherwirse, I think. I don't even know where to start. It's sort of overwhelming...

I say take the firebark trees in the clearing and put them towards the center of the grove then find some young mistbank trees and put them near the edge of the grove to put up some kind of wall of mist to help hide this place away form outsiders while the firebark trees act as a sort of campfire to keep the center of the grove warm and free of mist. Put the firebark in a circle in the center with nothing in the middle so we can plant the flowers we've collected in there with the more hardy flowers closer to the edge of the circle and the more sensitive ones near the center, and put in some paths as well in the garden so you don't have to step on the flowers all the time once your in the center of the grove. As for the orchard I say if we can find some fruit trees plant them outside of the firebark trees to add onto a forest look for anyone who does stumble across this place so it isn't AS obvious you live here.

oh i see, it's a internal chronometer.

Yes, transplant the firebark trees.
Also, would we be able to build ourselves a sort of shelter here? Like a little cabin, or grow one from living trees or something?

Also, how feasible is sneaking into the village for fruit stealing?

Haha, man, I've always thought it would be awesome to weave and grow trees into a house-thing.
Also, the big open space weirds me out. Can we at least, like, take up residence somewhere more isolated while our new home-area starts growing? I mean, do we really want people to see us from two miles away and come investigate?

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/16(Tue)12:18 No. 506084 ID: 4c4a92
File 136613991776.jpg - (151.87KB , 400x450 , Plans.jpg )

>>505913

This is a very well thought out plan... however, it is very broad one, that will probably take several days of work to complete. It's not that I have pressing engagements, I'm just not sure how to proceed here.

How should I organize my time? What should I do first, transplanting the saplings, planting the mistbank seeds, or starting on flowers?

And should I reserve working on my sanctum for a certain half of the day, and the other half for other activities? Or should I work on it all until it's complete?

If I work on landscaping at night, I will be able to explore during the daytime, when it will be easier to find flowers and things. I can see in the dark, but not terribly far or well. However...

>how feasible is sneaking into the village for fruit stealing?

Well, I would need a considerable amount of time to pull it off, and it would almost certainly need to be in the dark. This means I would need at least one night free for the excursion. They are, save for the whelp, unaware of my existence. They would have no pretext to specifically guard their fruit trees, so I suppose it's not impossible? If I am spotted, sneaking around in the dark, however, I expect it would throw the village into a state of alarm. I am much bigger than them and cannot be mistaken for anything but an intruder.

Perhaps some kind of disguise would help, but I can't imagine what would work...

> would we be able to build ourselves a sort of shelter here?
> I've always thought it would be awesome to weave and grow trees into a house-thing.

That will have to wait until later. One step at a time. However, the Bower tree still exists, should be need such a shelter for the time being. Maybe it would be a good idea to use it after I am finished with planting the sanctum?

Plant seeds, transplant saplings and work with the flowers. Work until the basics are done so we can go explore with everything growing in order even if we are gone for a longer period of time.

And yes we must acquire fruit trees and possibly berry bushes so eventually we will be able to make some wine!

I say start with whatever is closest to you. Like the saplings for the firebark trees, just make the circle you put them in is wide enough that you could plant all the flowers you have found and for whatever else you can find down the road. then plant the mistbank seeds at the edge of the grove when you find them and we can worry about the fruit trees for when we finally find some.

As for how to mange your time I say at least work until you have all the Firebark saplings in a circle and depending on the time of day (if it's day take a brake and explore, if it's night just keep working) maybe get started on your flower garden in them middle of the circle. I do think that the work at night and explore during the day idea is the best one for now and we can find some Mistbank seeds while we explore and maybe get some new flowers for our garden as well.

Perhaps we should wait until the mistbark trees have been planted before we deal with the firebarks? If we plant them in a circle while theyre still visible, then our habitation of this area will be more obvious.

Twyggdrasil Kaed 2013/04/17(Wed)13:50 No. 506324 ID: 83821f
File 136623183809.jpg - (79.85KB , 450x400 , EndChapter3.jpg )

>start with the saplings

A good plan to start with. The mistbank seeds will not cloak the clearing until they are grown anyway, so there is no point go starting with them.

>Berries
Hmm... not a bad idea. I'll add that to the queue.

Might as well get started, though. This work isn't going to get done on it's own... we'll talk about the next step when night comes, I think.

-END OF CHAPTER 3-