Turn 13: An Expanding Operation
Iktaka Modri[Hire: Moderate= 7, 8] Modri shelled out thirty shillings, but found two willing assistants. With the addition of two more assistants Farrek took control of most of the physical operations, overseeing the junior members of the team and performing the insertions. Modri stood at a distance, taking notes and conferring with Farrek when he had an observation, or she had a question.
- Step 1: Moderate = 8
- Step 2: Moderate= 5
- Step 3: Moderate= 7
Under Farrek’s watchful eye and skilled magics the first shard went in cleanly, the second hole wasn’t big enough, but a third hole allowed for yet another shard. That made four shards in one tree, and throughout all of it there was no reaction. The tree didn’t appear to realize it had sources of great power inside of it.
- Step 1: Moderate = 5, 5
- Step 2: Moderate= 10
- Step 3: Moderate= 10
Branches proved trickier than trunks. One assistant climbed the tree with a leather belt and spiked boots to drill a hole, and position a crystal in it. Farrek then had to stand directly under the branch and pull down on the crystal to try and insert it. Modri was concerned watching this, but he promised that as long as the crystal didn’t shatter into multiple pieces his control over it would be great enough to prevent it from striking him. He needed to be directly under it to pull it straight, or else it would glance off of the hole. Farrek’s skill was put to the test, the day was windy and the branch swayed from its original position. As Farrek predicted this caused the crystal to glance of the branch and fly at him. Again true to his word it was redirected effortlessly into the ground, rather than his flesh. After the second time watching this seemingly death defying feat by her greatest asset Modri called off the branch testing till a better method was developed, or at least the wind died down.
The roots were as simple as could be. The other assistant spent this time locating a thick root and drilling into it. By the time Farrek had stopped attempting the branches there was a hole ready and waiting, and the crystal was pushed in in a matter of seconds. The tree responded, pushing the assistant and Farrek away from the root, but not causing any harm. Through a couple of simple tests of throwing objects and measuring their deflections the team was able to determine that the force was dissociated from the crystal when the tree absorbed it; any part of the tree could act as the origin for the magic from that point on.
Horizontal slits were similarly a success. The tree was quicker to grow around it, it seemed, and the positioning made it slightly less dangerous for the workers inserting the shard. (+1 to rolls using this technique.)
All of the work being done by Farrek allowed Modri time to organize her notes on the project.
Abbreviations: Crystal Embedded Tree (CET), Unresponsive Crystal Embedded Tree (UCET)
Test 1, Tree Survivability:CET will move canopy to allow light to reach it, CET will react to perceived threats and push them away, trunk grows around crystal to rapidly enclose it, crystals should be kept safely away from the area where the trees can push, or at least be in a closed container
Test 2, Now With Less Danger, Hopefully!: Dead wood is unreactive to crystal insertion
Test 3, Let’s Appear Like We’re Doing Something Important: CET will draw water uphill to their roots, CET react slowly to thrown object, CET react to noise, some trees do not show any reaction to crystal embedding (UCET)
Test 4, The Fruits of our Labors: CET fruit appear to be larger
Test 5, Deprivation: Removal of crystals from CET returns tree to inert state, dense vascular growth occurs around crystal
Test 6, Preliminary Infection Test: CET can repel insects, no apparent effect on disease or mechanical damage
Test 7, Apple Examination: No apparent crystal formation in fruit of CET, no observed crystal sickness in pigs from eating CET fruit
Test 8, Escalation:Addition of crystals to UCET does not appear to generate response. It is the advice of this researcher that two crystals be applied in most cases, and no more.
Test 9, Location: Branches are particularly difficult to work with, focal point of magic dissociates from inserted crystal, horizontal slits for insertion appear easier on tree and researcher.
Farrek
20 iron shillings
Vast supply of scrapwood
3 live trees
2 CET
1 UCET
1 Deprived Tree
Small Crate of Shards (292)
3 Apple Trees
2 CET (Apple)
2 Pigs
Apples
Crystal Tree Apples
1 Embedded Insect Infested Tree
George was having
an adventure!Force crystal
200 iron shillings
[Fishers going out?: 10]
”Aye, soon as I sell these marlin steaks I’ll be out at sea. Can’t go till it sells tho’.”3 Sea Silver Harpoons
58 iron shillings
Podri
Hidden Boulder
[Pour Wax Mold: Moderate= 10 (Great)] It took the patience of a man with experience in casting; patience which Herman possessed. The wax couldn’t be poured and shaped quickly, as with smaller parts. It had to be laid down in layers, each shaped individually as a cross-section of the final piece. Herman understood the necessity of this task and devoted hours to shaping a mold which he was proud of. [Pour Iron: Moderate= 9+2 (Great)] Herman carefully, but quickly, poured the iron into the mold, creating what he knew would be a great columnar hammer. [Search for Anvil: Moderate= 7]There was an anvil that was originally meant for multiple smiths to work on the same large piece of metal. Herman felt a surge of pride as he realized that this was precisely the sort of thing his hammer would make obsolete, inefficient. He had to shell out fort shillings when he wanted to actually use it, but he felt confident after he assembled his machine the Forgemaster would see it as the superior alternative to multiple-smith forges.
+ Great Columnar HammerAccess to bronze, iron, and sea silver
210 iron shillings
Sketch of Hand-Crank Hammer
- Hammer
- Two Mechanisms
- Metal Frame
- Spring
- Crank
Intricate Sketch of Powered Hammer
- Columnar Hammer (Must be Iron)(Check: Great)
- Large Anvil (Must be Iron)
- Metal Frame
- Four Mechanisms
Intricate Sketch of Magical Water Power Source
- 3 Rust-Proof Pipe
- Rust-Proof Resevoir
- Rust-Proof Corkscrew Rod (Difficult)
- Mechanism
- 4 inch diameter Crystal Plate
Wax for Casting
Great Hand-Crank Hammer
Casting Basin
[Find Repulsive Herbs: Simple= 8] Wol quickly realized the ideal herb for this would be marigolds. They were grown to sell as flowers, but he knew them to be repulsive to animals. And unlike many other potential candidates, they didn’t have a strong enough smell for the pig to know what it was eating without trying it first. After that he quickly purchased another pig for 7 shillings.
[Give Marigolds and Sage to one Pig, Marigold/Sage/Red Vine to the other: Moderate= 6 +1 (Tox)] Correct doses of red vine were given to the pig selected to be poisoned. It took the careful calculation of the toxicologist to make it work, because the herbs had to be fed all at once to prevent the pig from rejected the marigold laced concoction.
[Give herbs again: Moderate=9] After allowing the poisoned pig the appropriate time to recover Wol attempted to feed the animals the herbs again. The pig which had not been poisoned refused to get near the sage and marigold mixture, as expected. It wouldn’t even touch sage by itself. The one that had received red vine in its treatment, however, gladly gulped down another dosage of the toxin.
- 7 shillings, + 1 PigAccess to gardens and swamp
Workbench with mortar and pestle
20 Guild credits
33 iron shillings
Cowbane
Red Vine
Sage
White Crown
9 Dead Rat
Untrained Recovered Rat (Cowbane/White Crown)
Untrained Recovered Rat (Red Vine/White Crown)
Trained Recovered Rat (Red Vine/White Crown)
2 Unpoisoned Trained Rats
Toxicologist
Recovered Trained Pig
Dog
Author
Topic: Roll to Innovate - Turn 31: Crystal Fever! (Read 16358 times)