Turn 12: Pretty PleasePERSUADE our hosts to consider opening diplomatic relations to our insectoid overlords.
[3] They agree to hear out any feeble offers, but remain pessimistic they'll have anything to offer.
+1 Persuasion"Eh? Wazzat? I'm terribly sorry, I'm in the middle of cooking a turkey. I have to go now."
I've heard enough. Leave the building and hightail it to the portal.
You bail out of the building full of crazy people, scamper down the slippery rocks, and hop back to gooland.
Describe to the Chieftan our setup with the Bugs, placing greater emphasis on going to other worlds and kicking the shit out of stuff than pretty mcuh anything else. If his attention flags, describe how our glorious insect overlords pulverised something living and vulnerable, as they do from time to time.
Try to interest him in travelling or sending men to other worlds to fight things, in return for a) whatever they can grab and b) things from other worlds that want to kill him, as well as c) experience of things on other worlds that want to kill them.
[5] The idea of an extraplanar training program interests him greatly, so he agrees to the idea of assembling a battle squad.
+2 Diplomacy
Now +3 DiplomatPlants that get stronger near fighting? You're too kind.
See if someone will point me towards some semi-dangerous, carnivorous plants.
((I did not think this through.))
[6] The Great Maw is its own arena, a toothed flower forming the, uh, primary ringout section. The main fighting area is on woody platforms above the maw, and various writhing tentacles and spike thorns adorn the walls.
+2 Agriculture
Now +3 AgriculturalistMagic up a large chunk of stone, and beat that into a stone punching bag with my rocks.
[2] You can't quite get it to come out in one piece.
Quickly magic up a medium sized, smooth sphere of rock (basically, a cannonball, but rock), and then use intense wind magic to fling the rock at the cultist.
[1] As is often the case with these things, your attempts at magic result in point-blanking yourself with a cannon.
-1 HP[2] Fortunately your opponent rushes you, the promptly trips over the hole you dug your cannonball out of.
Inquire about the terrain surrounding this mountain. Are there safe-ish paths down? How far until they level out into flat terrain?
[4] The short answer is getting into or out of the monastery is supposed to be difficult, so there are no "safe" paths. That said, people do get up and down it, so apparently there are "safe enough" paths.
As for flat terrain, this plane is apparently rather dynamic. Vast, open fields exist, but the cultists seem a little confused by requests for open fields that are not made of quicksand, infested with worms, flood regularly, etc. "Not this mountain" is a few hundred feet down, fewer hundreds on one side than the other (which overlooks a chasm even by local standards), but it's still flat only in relative terms.
+1 Diplomacy
Now +2 DiplomatLets actually start being useful lets start making as good a map as I can.
[5] You get a lovely height chart of the jumble of rocks you're on, complete with vague suggestions for easier ways up and down.
+2 CartographyBrian Keens (NJW)
+5/5 Identifier (0/5)
+3/3 Manager (0/3)
+2/2 Doomsayer (1/2)
+3/3 Climber (1/3)
+2/2 Seducer (½)
+2/2 Medic (0/2)
+1/3 Diplomat (0/3)
-
Hardened Climbing Spikes
Small Amounts of Rope
Crude Armor
Baeset Musre (OceanSoul)
+5 Mana Milker (0/5)
+3 Animal Handler (0/3)
+3 Stone Mage (1/3)
Ogneer (crazyabe)
+4/6 Earth Mage (4/6)
+3/3 Stoneworker (0/3)
-
Nice Pants
Assorted Rocks
Nar Azzar (Atomic)
+5 Life Mage (0/5)
+3 Metalworker (0/3)
+2 Stone Mage (0/2)
-
Metalworking Tools
Nice Bellows
Nice Backpack
Suzume (Abstract)
+5 Light Mage (1/5)
+3 Cartographer (2/3)
-
Mapping Tablets
Drawing Sticks
Backpack
Height Chart for current mountain
Fedelmid Cowhunter (voliol)
[Slightly Naked]: Who says this has a downside, again?
[Tie-Dye Colors]: Is this permanent?
5/5 HP
+5 Hunter (0/5)
+3 Leatherworker (0/3)
Nix (NRDL)
5/5 HP
+5/5 Pyromancer (2/5)
+2/3 Persuader (1/3)
+2/2 Climber (½)
+2/2 Medic (0/2)
+1/2 Diplomat (1/2)
Blu (Blastoise)
5/5 HP
+5/5 Aquamancer (0/5)
+3/3 Medic (0/3)
+2/2 Air Mage (1/2)
+2/2 Climber (1/2)
+4/4 Clubsman (2/4)
+1/2 Comedian (1/2)
+1/2 Diplomat (0/2)
-
"Fruit"
Rope
Club
Sairian (Nirur)
[Facial Planter]: It's a long story, okay?
+5/5 Plant Mage (4/5)
+3/4 Agriculturalist (1/4)
+2/2 Brawler (0/2)
Mr. Jane Doe (Dolosus)
+5 Pyromancer (0/5)
+3 Demolitionist (0/3)
+2 Herbalist (0/2)
+2 Architect (0/2)
-
Smoldering Horror Torch
-On Parapet-
Karen (Coolrune)
4/5 HP
+4/5 Stone Mage (1/5)
+3/3 Carbon Mage (0/3)
+3/3 Air Mage (2/3)
+2/2 Fire Mage (0/2)
+1/2 Loremaster (1/2)
-
Crude Armor
Black Cultist Robe
Rope
Cowled Figure
? ? ?