HUZZAH! It's one of my favorite quest threads!

rolled 1, 2, 6 = 9

So far, the plan is to spend the first half of the day making trips to the swamp, and the last half plowing.

>Timeskipping...

F5 prepared!

>last post
“I'm not your maid,” You tell the skull, “And I don't appreciate your language.”

Lark snaps his fingers again, covering his mouth with one hand while he tries not to laugh so hard.

“NOT MY MAID, HUH?” the skull replies, its jaw moving up in down in a parody of speech, “WELL, I SUPPOSE I CAN LIVE WITH THAT.”

You smile.

“OH, WAIT. NO I CAN'T.” The eyes flash, “CAUSE I'M ALREADY DEAD!”

Your forehead slips slowly into your palm as the skull laughs with a hollow, echoing voice. Lark can barely contain himself, while Sahl is just standing there, with a stoic expression on his face, palming the skull with one hand.

“Alright. Alright,” you say finally, “I'll get you a nice, frosty beer,” you give the bony thing a warm smile, “But if you can't drink it all, I'll use you for fertilizer.”

The skull is silent for a moment, and then replies with, “I THINK I'LL GO BACK IN MY BOX NOW.”

And so ends that little bit of silliness.

i vote we time skip until the people who were going to the other town to pick up supplies come back, or until we finish one of the projects (or any thing important happens)

Quick question: What kind of farm implements are commonly used by these people?

>>7760896
But we were just starting to get a rapport with the villagers!

>>7760911
Well, with my knowledge,
I'd say-sickles, scythes, heavy iron plows, and hoes

Voting to get some chickens/pigs once the people here get some money...but don't do it all at once buy it in small batches spread out over time. We don't want others getting wind of our sudden fortune...

>>7761023
That raises a good question
Exactly what does the village have in terms of hard cash
And why would they be okay with us ordering them around like this?

>>7761078
>>7761023
also, do we have the man power needed to start raising animals?

rolled 3, 3, 2 = 8

Sunset has finally come. Your lunch was provided by the forest today, in the form of a pair of foxes you managed to catch with your axe-blade. You haven't seen any more averrons, but you've run back two more loads of fertilizer, leaving about one day's work to gather what you need for the last field. Fortunately, you know the way quite well now, which makes the trip much faster.

The remainder of your day was spent at the plow, churning up the dirt in the fourth field, and digging more channels. The first field's system is now complete, and you're working on the rest. Some of the farmers have started your windbreak hedge-line, transplanting some of the plants they need and attempting to grow the rest. It'll be a few seasons before the whole thing is up to a good level, but as a bonus, none of the peasants will need to go far to gather berries.

Bem will be returning from Fain tomorrow, hopefully with tools and seeds. The first field is already being planted with wheat, so you're moving right along. Once you've got all the farm-related things worked out, you'll probably focus on improving sanitation, building that methane furnace, or something like that.

Steam engines aren't far off now, huh?

rolled 3, 5, 2 = 10

>>7761009
Those, yes.

>>7761078
They don't have much actual coin, but there's enough, if you empty everyone's purses, to buy one entire cow, if you're not picky.

You're their ally and their protector, a person from a world far off and more advanced. You've already proven yourself to have knowledge beyond theirs in fields they've spent their whole lives working in.

>>7761098

I'd say we probably have at least enough manpower to do chickens. After building a chicken coop, they seem pretty low-maintenance

>>7761119
Before we go to bed tonight, why don't we stick around the village and see if the villagers want to here a story from our wourld.
>Long ago, in a distant land, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil...

>>7761119
Soap.

We need soap.

Have the villagers been saving their ashes? A silo or a storeroom to sav the ashes will be essential to keep enough handy.

And that reminds me, we should start making plans to repair and improve the buildings in the town. If most are in poor condition, it'll only help to start improving those too...

>>7761189
This.

rolled 3, 3, 1 = 7

>>7761200
They save their ashes, yes. They need lye for tanning, anyway.

>>7761170
It's a good thing htese people signed that oath with us- I don't know what we'd be doing without these villagers to help

>>7761214
Oh, they have a tanner? That's great!

>>7761200
And anything that leads to us getting our ashes hauled is a good thing.

rolled 2, 4, 2 = 8

>>7761228
Well, they don't trade raw furs. The village is small, about a hundred strong, so almost everyone has multiple jobs.

>>7761247
Can we get a list of people who have a proficiency with certain jobs?
It'd be nice to know what we're working with

rolled 6, 2, 2 = 10

>>7761287
Coming up after the next story post.

F5

What's our long term goal here?
Find out who or what brought us here and why, and to find a way to get back?
Defeat mildly tyrannical lord?
Jumpstart magical industrial revolution?

>>7761344
I think we're trying to start the Industrial Revolution.

>>7761344
It seems that most people are for 1 and 3.
I somehow think 2 may happen as a result of 1 and 3.

One of the goals should be to experiment w/ magic more. Why? Cause magic is different and COOL

>>7761404
Agreed!

rolled 2, 5, 6 = 13

At supper, before you head off to your nightly study, you take charge of the storytelling, spinning a tale of combat and honor, a quest to find the way home, paralleling your own situation somewhat. You tell the peasants of Aku, the shapeshifting master of darkness, and Jack, the mighty warrior who fights with a single magic sword.

Drawing upon your knowledge of distilled cartoon awesome, you tell them of the great empire of the sun, struck down by the demon Aku, who is hunted and nearly killed by the son of the emperor. A portal, created at the last minute by the cowardly dark lord, swallows the Samurai, who is cast into a bleak future ruled by Aku and his minions.

By the time you finish the first episode, the villagers are dumbstruck, clamoring for more. You tell them, hesitantly, that you won't keep them up all night, and promise to continue the story tomorrow. The children are especially excited, which you suppose is natural, but even the elders seem to be interested in your tale. Even in a world straight out of fantasy, they still enjoy it; the eternal legend of the righteous warrior fighting an endless fight against the forces of evil.

These people are pretty cool.

rolled 3, 1, 6 = 10

I'll be away for a few minutes, so discuss amongst yourselves, toss ideas around, or something like that. I love DMing for you guys, by the way.

>>7761462

Fukken lol'd.

>>7761462
Hold up, did you remember to tell them about the part where Aku adopts a child who's parents had been killed by bandits, thus giving the audience a sense of compassion for him and changing him for the better? We need to remember to put in that part.

Voting for time skip until Bem returns. Will be studying magic tonight

>>7761486
we enjoy it too subprocessor dm, despite what the trolls, sagefags, and constant derailings might have you think


I propose that right away tommorow we finish all this fertilizer bussiness so we can focus on the trenches so we can plant them already

also ask if they have any of the more domestic fantasy races
pic related

>>7761523
This.

>>7761523
Maybe we should think about this whole magic thing-
we've gotten good so far with what we've got, but I think maybe we'll plateau out eventually with that slate.
Are there any other ways we can progress without physical things or instruction- I dunno commune with nature

>>7761562
Yeah, we should try to have the fields ready for planting by the time Bem gets back.

>>7761574

Hmm good point. But for now it seems we can still wring some performance out of that tablet. We can worry about later later

>>7761523

This, but also try to get the talking skull off that elder for good and perhaps ask it questions regarding magic. I'm hoping the wizard kept it as an audio spellbook and that it is highly intelligent.

>>7761462
Oh, I can tell we're going to become a famous bard!
We can tell them stories about the Avatar, who commanded the elements and brought peace to the four nations
Sing songs about how many roads a man must walk down, and how our unfaithful love is nothing but a hound dog!
We have the entire works of western literature and the last thirty years of pop songs at our disposal, with no copyrights!

>>7761633
I don't think it was an actual talking skull
Lark was just manipulating it.
Hey, maybe he can be our magic teacher!

>>7761645
Instead of Robin Hood, they will know of Lupin the Third!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Don't judge me.

>>7761367


I think so, too, and here's why I think that's a good goal:

We are a frost giant, a member of a big, powerful, magically-imbued race. However, despite those advantages, frost giants have pretty much lost the game, right? They don't run things. They don't even run the choice bits of territory, the prime hunting grounds, and so forth.

So, we want to survive, but we want to do more than that. We want to thrive. We don't want to live in a cave and maybe eat the occasional adventurer. We can't reasonably take out the local tyrant ourselves, or other frost giants would already be in charge. We might have cool adventures and murder goblin and take their stuff, but that means dick all if we are a pariah without anywhere to go home to.

Basically, without a community of people who like us, this may as well be a post-apocalyptic campaign setting - for Team Frost Giant, maybe it already is. So, how to make people like us, and also build a community where we can feel like we have some control over life and some meaning in what is otherwise a pretty random existence? After all, we got polymorphed and/or mind-switched, which is a pretty big existential wrench.

So, we've found a place where our skills are valued and we are accepted. Awesome. Now to help that place grow. We find meaning through this, and also help make a place that is more willing to continue to accept us and is basically a nicer place to live...

>>7761761

...continued...


So, we try to jump-start a tech revolution. We do our best to work with the people, not dictate stuff, because this is our new community but also because it works better that way: we might know about crop rotation and chemical theory, but they have deep practical knowledge of their environment and world that we need. So it's a mutual benefit and relationship, and that's what's going to keep us thriving when the local tyrant's boyos eventually show up.

Eventually we should spend some time murdering dragons or goon squads and taking their stuff, totally, but first we build a community that accepts us, defends us, shelters us, and that we can go back home to.

>>7761679

Just about any Arnold movie could be used for story purposes.


And when it's time for scary stories, the thing.

>>7761761

Do the elders know if any other towns under the Lord have similar negative views of him?

>>7761679
imokwiththis.jpg

rolled 5, 3, 3 = 11

>>7761506
Seems like that'd be farther down the road, after some of Jack's first adventures.

>>7761523
I'll work that up after the population list.

>>7761562
The elders told you about all the races they know; the Hagrek are the current best fit for Dwarves. This is only a tiny corner of the world, though, so there is plenty more beyond their knowledge.

>>7761574
There are plenty of ways to learn about magic, but according to Lark, that's a near-infinite battery of ice magic you've got, so there's no immediate danger of running out of juice.

>>7761665
Yes, it was being puppeted. Whether or not the skull contains an actual consciousness, that prefers to stay silent, well, you don't know.

>>7761761
>>7761773
Zog me, it's
Beautiful!

>>7761816
Thanks for the info!

>>7761816
Oh, okay. Just making sure you don't forget. That's an intricate piece of 4chan canon, and it must be told.

rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13

>>7761804
The small towns in this area hold a rather more positive opinion, but none of them have been hit as hard as yours. Fain is even more accepting, as it has a strong economy and a middling government presence.

rolled 6, 6, 3 = 15

>>7761856
I probably will forget, so make sure you remind me, just in case.

Hey, are our nightmares passive, our do we have some degree of interactivity in them?

I just wanted to point out, travelling might be in our best interests. Wouldn't it be a shame if we spent all this time on our little village only to travel to a city in a distant kingdom and find out they have advanced as far or even further than us?

>>7761905
No stay home, help stablise area and start magical revolution
Then questan

>>7761862

Then it seems that unless circumstances change, it will be difficult to build up popular support for ourselves in the manner that we have in this town. People of the other towns (or at least one tattle tale) would likely report our presence...
Hmm, I'm not sure what to do. If we try to spread out these techniques to gain more support, people are gonna wonder how we came up w/ them, which will result in extra scrutiny. But if we don't reach out, when the hammer falls we won't be able to withstand it...

rolled 4, 4, 4 = 12

>>7761895
You've only had one, and since then you've been taking the remedy. It was interactive.

This list is going to take a little while to finish.

>>7761950
Well, worst comes to worse, we run and hide.
The villagers probably know the forest like the back of their hands, and it would be suicide to follow us into deepcaves

>>7761976

Yeah, but then how are the village elders gonna explain all this new stuff away?
"Oh we just thought of it in our spare time"
is not gonna cut it

>>7761954
If that's so, would it be possible to maybe face and tame the demon bound in the slab?
Suicadal, I know, but we have an advantage in that we know what to expect

>>7762015
Oh good god, I hope the villagers don't end up forced off their lands and hunted by the lord's army because they helped us.

>>7761950

The first, best line of defense is community. If things are going well here, people from other communities might indeed wonder how and why. Also, taxes might go up, the local lord might investigate, and so on. There's all sorts of possible complications. But if things are going well, and if the locals like us, then we have a hundred allies watching out for us, lying for us, and so on.

Why the crop rotation? A smart hunter started noticing that the forest plants grow fastest when something completely different died in the area before them. Why the new this or that? There's a hedge wizard in town, he heard some things. Hell, he used to be some kind a scryer, maybe he got lucky with some divination magic. There's no end to plausible explanations, provided the people are united.

I fully expect this to turn from Frost Giant: Farm Quest to Frost Giant: The Seven Samurai in the future. The better off and more united the village is first, the better things will go. Even if we have to hightail it out and lay low, don't we want something to come back to?

>>7762062
BUt what if the farmlands are sown with salt and the village burned down by angry malitia men looking for us?
We have to have a contigency plan- not just for us, but for the villagers- our friends.
Our
Family

>>7762062
But, but, don't all the main characters DIE in The Seven Samurai?

>>7762092
Good point- okay, how about Frost Giant: Zatōichi

>>7762092
>>7762083
>>7762046

Better pray that we have a non-super evil gm....

>>7762092

Most of them, yes. Since we're one really big samurai instead of seven little samurai, I'm hoping it averages out to simply being badly hurt and gaining a level or two in the process.

>>7762083

True. The Elders are going to be better at that, though, since they actually know the local terrain, how things work, and so forth. They've given us help already in this regard, let's keep working with them to come up with a strategy.

>>7762046
>>7762083

If they are forced off of their land, we arm them with whatever weapons we can and train them in the art of war and bring battle to those motherfuckers. Giant Quest: War, Motherfucker.

rolled 3, 4, 2 = 9

>>7762142
I wouldn't call myself super-evil. Anyway, here's the list, I don't know how much it will help you, but at least you'll have something. Let me know if you spot something ridiculous in it.

Population: 99

Frost Giants: (1), Numerous skills.

Elders: (3), One magic-user/comedian (Lark), one trader/diplomat (Bem), one planner/strategizer (Sahl), Numerous minor skills.

Hunters: (5), One crossbowman/minor philosopher (Kel), one berserker axeman/tracker (Jon), one swordsman/minor smith (Raik), two bowmen/tanners (Jef, Siemon), Numerous hunt-related minor skills.

Farmers: (43), One head farmer/herbalist (Mal), Eight farmer/tanners, Eleven farmer/butchers, Ten farmer/chemists (working with lye and such), Ten farmer/builders, Three farmer/carpenters, Numerous farm-related minor skills.

Women and Children: (47), Fourteen clothworkers, Nine gatherers/cooks, Eleven unspecialized, Thirteen children under 15, Numerous minor skills.

>>7762092
Only four of them.

And IIRC two of them die because they didn't make absolutely sure the bandit leader was dead before they turned their backs to leave.

>>7762177
Looks good.

>>7762171
We have human waste that can be processed for saltpeter. We will also shortly have charcoal. And I'm sure we can find sulfur somewhere, but apparently it's possible to make black powder without sulfur, at a ratio of 70.5% saltpeter to 29.5% charcoal.

GUNS, MOTHERFUCKER DO YOU SHOOT THEM?

>>7762213
Metal workers- we needs them

>>7762213
Wow, an impressive assortment of skills.
I know most of them only have little knowledge, but this all good stuff to build off on.

>>7762213
Not guns- maybe home made explosives?
Can we make a molotov cocktail with alcohol distilled from beets?

Fucking yes. We go about making ourselves guns.

JERK YER DICK

>>7762266
Don't know if they even have breakable containers to make molotov cocktails

Flintlock guns aren't too hard to make once you understand the technique and mechanic behind them. Add in rifled barreling (if that's the correct name for it, allows the shot to rotate), carbine models and avarron shell due to it's light and flexible qualities to the stock of the rifle.

>>7762226
>>7762213
or midevil pipe bombs/landmines.
also, warp the powder in cloth. Now you have something that can be used for mining or as a weapon.
Also, don't forget. early powder weapons were used as psychological weapons, just being able to create large amounts of fire and black smoke can be useful.

>>7762308
Plus, we are a motherfucking frost giantess who can shoot ice from her fingertips-
That's got to count for something.

>>7762213
this oh god THIS

the MOMENT we have guns we have the whole fucking world in our hands
GUNS ROCKED OUR WORLD from the moment they were invented , and thats in a world without magic

magic imbued guns bitches? HELL YEA
with guns we could easily conqure this region and start the industrial revolution
Assuming the damn kingsmen dont engineer their own guns....

So we share our knowledge of guns, black powder, the relevant physics to do with the technology with the elders and our trainee blacksmith?

>>7762302
your thinking of the kentucky rifle design right? with the folded inner tube that spins the bullet so it cuts throught the air and goes faster? yea we need some of that action too

I think we are definitely going to want to think about ways of AVOIDING wars. EVEN IF WE HAVE GUNS. Why? Because this village has only ~100 people in it. Unless we somehow are magically able to get them to automatic weapons, these farmers will be fighting against a far larger foe.

Even guns won't win against 20-1 odds. And remember this kingdom has recently been in a few wars, therefore these men will be veterans not soft, green recruits.

>>7762389

We're not talking all out war and overthrowing just yet. It's time for Giant Quest: Motherfucking Bolsheviks.

>>7762402
Why don't we ask the elders how likely it is for us to get discovered if we continue helping
For now, let's concentrate on expanding the agriculture base

>>7762389
The advantage of guns (and frankly the only real advantage that early guns are going to have over bows, but it's a big one) is that anybody can be trained to use them with minimal practice time. Quality warbows take years of dedicated training to build up the right musculature, and even then not everybody can do it.

>>7762335
Historically, the gun existed for a very long time before medieval melee weapons and bowmen came about.

I'd rather we use chemistry knowledge to improve the quality of life before engaging in empire building and warmongering.

>>7762458
Second

>>7762458

This, we have no reason to arm our village just yet.

rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

It's been another day. The night after your first 'real' storytelling adventure went well, with you again trying to use your natural magic without the tablet's help. You ignored its whispers, its promises of limitless power, and focused through the ring only. Once again, picking an arbitrary spot on the wall as a target, you forced your thoughts into a line and fired, blasting a chunk of stone the size of your fist out of the pockmarked wall with a solid beam of ice. You're getting better at this, but doing magic on your own still tires you out. Thankfully, you haven't had any nightmares since the first night.

Breakfast is relaxing as usual, with more than a few of your adopted villagers pestering you to continue the story before supper. You refuse, graciously, telling them that suspense makes it all the better. The children don't particularly like this, but you soldier on. You run practically all day, jetting back and forth to the swamp like a crazed, blue airplane, piling up enough fertilizer to make the last field grow grain so fast it reaches escape velocity.

At lunch, they pressure you again to start the story early, but you ignore them, only smiling and wagging your finger. On your last run, you spot another averron, but it's a small one this time, barely more than 800 pounds. With some effort, you drag about half of its meat home along with 22 small chitin plates, and feast with the villagers as the sun goes down.

We spend the rest of the day gathering fertilizer and carving out the water trenches, then?

rolled 5, 2, 2 = 9

>>7762489
You start the next episode with a bang. Jack, lost in a world he can't understand, almost gets captured by a swarm of evil metal golems, but is saved by the magical firebombs of a huge man with a funny accent. His artificial leg shoots bursts of exploding death into the chests of the advancing golems, blowing them apart. After that, Jack and The Scotsman alternate between friends and rivals, with the latter insulting the other's sword, style of dress, and quiet nature near-constantly. It's a hit. You could keep this going for a billion seasons.

The teaser for the next episode is particularly enticing: Aku's minions aren't cutting it, and he decides to find an apprentice.

>>7762177

This skill list is invaluable. Most people, as would be expected of a subsistence-based culture, have a variety of practical and well-practiced skills. What they lack is modern theory to kick their game up to the next level - a framework to understand why the things that they do work, and thus how they might work better.

We can supply that. We probably don't have a tiny fraction of the practical knowledge, but we went through high school, probably at least some college, and being fa/tg/uys, actually paid attention. The crop rotation stuff, for example, is high-school level knowledge from both history and science classes, provided you had good teachers and read the textbooks.

So, here's what I think our moves should be:

1) Keep digging, hauling, and helping development. It's planting season, that shit's got a time limit.

2) Keep studying magic. Combined with the physical development from all that labor, we should be doing well for ourselves when the shit hits the inevitable fan.

3) Grab everyone with a known skill and info dump. Minor chemist? Time to dredge up high school chemisty, stuff from Mythbusters, anything. Midwife? Germ theory, everything from health class and biology, and so forth. Math for everyone who will listen, with emphasis on practicalities like trig and such. Jesus, double-entry book keeping only requires arithmetic, and that was a goddamn game-changer.

rolled 5, 3, 3 = 11

>>7762497
Your proficiency with magic has increased enough for you to reliably generate a certain, specific effect, like an ice beam. Would you like to focus on another effect this time?

>>7762501
I LIKE YOUR STYLE!

wait whats goin on, oh hey I've got boobs, adventure over.

rolled 4, 2, 3 = 9

>>7762501
Keep in mind that only the elders are completely literate; the rest of the peasants are somewhere between a second-grade reading level and 'letters are the what now?'

>>7762501

THIS, OH GOD, THIS.

>>7762517

Ice armour or an ice shield.

>>7762501

I agree w/ this plan, however, we are going to need some kind of granary/food storage to last the quite long winter here. With the crop expanded due to our efforts, we may need to enlarge the granary. Put this on the to-do list

>>7762517

I think getting one effect reliably is good, but could it be improved? I'd rather focus on improving it if possible before branching out. If I could choose between 1 3rd level spell and a dozen cantrips, I'd take the 3rd level spell, so let's see if our ice beam can become bigger, have longer range, and so forth.

>>7762517
Maybe that ice shard spell, for more AEO (forgive the term) offensive spell.

rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8

Blast my forgetfulness.

Bem returns just before supper, with a set of standard smithing tools, a loose sheaf of parchment he says is a basic manual for metal-shaping, and a large bag of Flashweed seeds.

>>7762501

For number 3, we can do this during the winter months up ahead. The farmers/hunters etc prob won't have much to do during this time anyway.

Can rats/rodents/contaminants/small-grain-eating-thieves climb vertically? It might be worth it to try our hand at architecture and see if we can make an elevated granary (two or three feet in the air.)

>>7762593

This thread is becoming Lord's Quest + Blue Vagoo

>>7762554

Toss literacy on the roster, then. I helped my younger siblings learn to read, and many people have at least that level of casual experience. Obviously, we can't shotgun the knowledge into people's heads, but we can help create a culture that values and encourages it.

Pic related.

rolled 6, 6, 1 = 13

>>7762591
>>7762565
>>7762574

Alright. Focus on protective effects, improving the ice beam, or an area effect attack?

>>7762517
Work on trying to remove cold from objects, warming those objects as a result. We then store the cold in some sort of reservoir.

rolled 5, 5, 5 = 15

>>7762646
It's what the people seem to want.

>>7762668

This quest is win, good job Subprocessor DM.

>>7762668
Once we have a proper base set up in this town, and have it so that they don't need us around all the time in order to make it work, we can head out and go questing.

I think part of why we're sticking around here, aside from wanting to help the village, is that we don't want the other local towns sending word to the lord to come kill us.

>>7762668

Hey, I'm not saying thats a bad thing. Just an observation.

rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11

>>7762680
Thank you, I try my best.

>>7762649
Even though their language sounds similar to english, it may have an entirely different alaphabet or grammar structure when it comes to writing

>>7762655

Area of Effect

A single target + an AoE attack are the minimum standard needed in any adventuring/military situation. Our tough hides/shield can protect us as well as our magic can. And we can worry about upgrading attack later.

>>7762501

Don't forget standardized measurements.

They're using decimal system, right?

We still need a conclusion on what we are going to research magic-wise:

1 Shielding effects
1 Area of effect spell
1 Improve our current beam further

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

>>7762721
You hear English words, and you see English letters. Regardless of whether their actual language is English, if you write it, they will probably understand it as well as your speech.

>>7762730
Insofar as they measure at all, yes.

>>7762726

This is a pretty good point.

Changing my own vote to AoE, then.

Preferrably the AoE effect is akin to insanely sharp shards of ice suddenly jutting from the ground / any nearby surface bar near us. This is easier to control than bucketloads of ice shards flying in every direction.

>>7762738
Shielding

>>7762721

Right, the bigger picture is to encourage it. People will seek out ways to learn if they value it. If literacy is seen just as a technical skill that only a specialist needs, then they have no incentive to learn. We can capitalize on the current mood of hope and optimism to get people on that track.

Actually, that's the real fundamental basis of a lot of this, right (pic related)? Creating improvements that are self-sustaining and allow the community to grow itself, rather than just have some here today, gone tomorrow Giantess pull some rabbits out of hats.

>>7762842
That what we're working towards
Hopefully

rolled 5, 3, 2 = 10

This time you change it up. Now that you've got the beam down pretty well, you can see how you fare with a different kind of attack. Drawing on your memory of the shards, the feeling that ran through you when you created them, you focus on the ring, splitting the line in three, then six, then nine, bending the shapes into diamonds. It's difficult, this time. You can hear the whisper crashing over you like the roar of the ocean, and the patterns in your mind refuse to hold their shape.

You choose a point quickly and open your right hand. There is a bright, blue flash, and nine small, glowing rods of ice erupt from the rock in front of you, bursting into whirling spheres of spinning shrapnel. When you take your hands off your eyes, you see the cavern covered in tiny marks, with small craters where the shards came up.

You're covered in scratches, as small as papercuts but stinging with magical energy. You resolve to be more careful when setting off grenades in an enclosed space, just before you slump against your stony pillow, exhausted.

>>7762842

How can we institute a culture like that though? We are dealing w/ a very practical people. If the knowledge does not seem to have a use, they are unlikely to make the effort to learn it.

I think we need three things for our "culture of learning" establishment to succeed.
1) Labor saving device/buildings
If all their time is being spent on working the fields, they're not going to want to come home to intense study sessions.

2) A far enough knowledge level that they can use the information practically

We need to get them close to beginning High school grad level. That is when the benefits of educations really start taking off with things such as arithmetic, reading, writing.

3)Paper or something similar

Its really hard to practice/record knowledge w/out paper or something like it. Verbal knowledge is too imprecise.

>>7762887
Hmm, so it seems area affect could cause serious friendly fire
Something we should remember

>>7762887
Watch those cuts
The last thing we need is an infection in this time period

>>7762921
What we need is the McCormick reaper. And some better way of spinning raw fibers into usable cloth. Get those two things and you've just dealt with two ENORMOUS timesinks for a rural subsistence-level farming population.

rolled 4, 6, 1 = 11

>>7762972
Your immune system can deal with quite a lot of punishment. The chance of infection is miniscule.

>>7762976
That's a lot of moving parts
Doesn't that require like, indsutrialized factories to make?

>>7762932

Yes, but it is a grenade and thus has many strategic advantages, such as precision (when practiced), flexibility (can be cast anywhere within a certain radius, I assume) and can be fired around corners, perhaps. A useful spell that we should study every night hence forth until we are adept at using it. Next day spread or gather more fertilizer, dig irrigation, assist our trainee blacksmith with whatever knowledge we can lend and instruct him to forge a basic chest plate from whatever ore we have available / chitin if need be.

>>7763007
Hokay, but shouldn't the village rest day be coming up soon?
The rate of work were going through-we might just need it.

>>7762921

That's where step 3) of >>7762501 comes in: putting the stuff we know in the hands of the people situated to use it, just like we've done with crop rotation. Practical knowledge is totally first priority.

Labor saving devices are important, totally, and a lot of the farming practices we're implementing are essentially that. Proper methods draw much more nourishment from the soil with less effort. That's free time to do other things, and more calories available to do it with. Plus, we're essentially a labor-saving device, since we can hunt and do heavy work so fast.

Once people see benefits in terms of what they can do to support themselves, interest in knowing more is almost automatic, and the inherent value of knowing more becomes clear. Most people would like to do what they do easier and better, anyway - as you already touched on, a major barrier at this tech level is the time spent just surviving and the associated fact that everyone is half-starving by modern nutritional standards.

>>7763035

We will rest once our crop rotation has come into effect, and the required plants have been set into place.

rolled 2, 6, 4 = 12

Just so you know, you now have enough fertilizer to cover all four fields. There is one more field left to plow, which will take slightly less than a full day if you do nothing else, and the irrigation system is one-and-a-half days away from completion if you focus on that. The first field is half-sown with wheat by now.

The next story post will be the last tonight.

>Orders?

>>7763065
Finish plowing fields
Prep farmers on how to spread fertilizer

>>7763065

Focus on plowing the field quickly, then turn to building up that irrigation system.

Timeskip until both of the plowing/irrigation/planting is finished. Continue magic study/village interaction throughout

Just wanted to chime in and say thanks to the DM. I know how time-consuming this must be...

>>7763126
Buddy, you ain't whistling Dixy

rolled 4, 3, 3 = 10

>>7763126
Yes, it eats up time quite nicely, but it's fun. I prefer this to endless, pointless lurking.

>>7762995

It depends. The prototypes were mostly made of wood, with metal blades to do the cutting. You only need to cast the lot of it from metal for durability. You really just need a simple machine that whacks stalks of grain into blades.

>>7763144

>>7763109

This.

>>7763109

Yeah, I think we've basically established what our goals are and how we're going about them. We've got some routine and rapport going.

When was the last time we had a bath?
Jeeze, we must smell
At our next opportunity, let's see if we can follow that river downstream, away from the village drinking water and prying eyes, and wash

>>7763279
probably a good idea

>>7763279
Now that i think of it. A roman style bath building would improve hygine greatly.
More of a long term goal but a good one.

rolled 4, 3, 4 = 11

By morning, your cuts have already healed, possibly due to your nature as a being of cold. The shrapnel was made of ice, after all. Breakfast is sedate as usual, and you finish early to take maximum advantage of your time. Lashing the jury-rigged harness to yourself, you pull the plow with all your might, drawing it across the field like a mad bull, as the farmers look on in silence. All of the villagers who were previously working with plows have gone to planting, a job that's more difficult for you because of your oversized hands. They're starting to get a feel for your talents, planning around you to spread the work in the most efficient way. It must be natural for people in such a tiny town to do so automatically.

By midday, you've got two-thirds of the field done, and you've drained your entire cask of water. After refilling it and getting a quick bite, you return to the field, willing yourself to finish it as quickly as possible. Mal comes over after a moment and tells you not to overexert yourself, but you keep moving, only smiling back at him.

rolled 3, 1, 6 = 10

>>7763356
Deep furrows cover the land by late afternoon. You unbuckle yourself from the heavy apparatus, and return it to the storehouse, breathing hard. You take a moment to rest, have some water, and throw yourself back into the work, picking up an enormous wooden scoop and digging long trenches into the spaces between the fields. By sunset, you've accomplished an incredible amount, cutting the irrigation system's time down to a single day.

At supper, you continue your story, relaxing against the Hall while the tale of Aku's search for an apprentice unfolds. The villagers are quite into it by now, prodding you with all manner of questions during the ordeal. You kind of like it, telling them stories.

When night falls, you test your 'grenades' again, focusing on a point as far away from you as possible this time. The shards explode in sequence, sweeping the area with tiny crystalline blades. This time, you don't get cut.

Using these effects outside is likely to have some interesting results.


My apologies, I started writing when the consensus was just to finish plowing.

>>7763372
S'okay

>>7763345

Yes, health and sanitation should definitely be next after food. Cut down malnutrition and poor hygiene and you've massively improved lifespan and quality of life. And, unlike the crops, improvements to hygiene pay off almost immediately after wide adoption.

rolled 5, 6, 3 = 14

The next day I have available for a night run is Friday. Is everyone here alright with that?

>>7763372

No problem, I think that consensus was correct, now we're thinking about what comes after all that's done.

>>7763408

No problem, will be waiting. Also, is anyone archiving this?

>>7763408

I'd prefer it sooner, but yeah, that's alright.

>>7763408

I'm sure we can tide ourselves over with a planning thread until then :)

You've been extremely game about where all us farmboys and engineers have taken this, and I hope it's been fun for you, too.

>>7763372
^^ no problem, needed to get done anyways.
Thank you for running the quest!

Has our character's physical strength increased much due to the exertion we put ourselves through daily? And if so, by how much?

>>7763434

done

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7760828/

vote 'em up!

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

>>7763444
It's been loads of fun, actually. Engineering has a soft spot in my heart, but I don't know a whole lot about farming. Thanks for dumbing it down for me.

>>7763446
Thanks for playing!

>>7763468
A little bit, yes, but you're now a member of a race that throws boulders around for fun. The difference is negligible.

Thanks for the quest, OP.

Going to bed now, occupied me until 4 AM. See you on Friday, all being well and keep safe until then.

WE LOVE YOU OH PEE!

After we've industrialized the place a bit, I think it's important that we teach the peasants about our world's economics.

Specifically, GLORIOUS COMMUNISM.

>>7764230
FUCK YEAR

>>7764230

But with our knowledge, WE could be the filthy rich bourgeois. Our little village is already set to becoming fairly wealthy and independent.

Better Red Than Dead

>>7764399
Better rich than red. Go Capitalist.

>>7764270

You're thinking small.
With a worldwide overhaul of sociodynamics (which are at present aristocratic with a limited bourgeoisie probably based on magic use) we could spark a true worldwide revolution, incorporating our knowledge of basic steam-level technology with the promises of the arcane arts and the resources of a united world to forge an empire of the STARS!

Under the banner of the Hammer and Sickle, on behalf of the workers and peasants of the Union of Allied Socialist Republics, we could lay claim to the vast cosmos itself!
WE CAN SURPASS THE DREAMS OF THIS WORLD AND STRIKE FOR THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES!
THIS SMALL, COLD FARMING VILLAGE WILL BE KNOWN TO HISTORY AS THE FIRST FIELD TILLED ON A HARVEST OF THE STARS!

>>7764424
manly tears

Have we invented penicillin yet? Or pasteurization?

Both have enormous benefits and are very simple to implement.

>>7765425

Addendum: What about Boyle's law? Refrigeration of food should be a top priority, the expanding gas law and some kind of waterwheel system operating pistons that alternately compress and expand air could create a mass refrigeration building.

>>7765425

It sounds like we're going to be working on those next.

Things that need to be done (that I haven't noticed mentioned yet)

Moveable-type printing press (Unless this is like Discworld)

steam-railroads (and therefore smelting, of course)

specialization

Wider-spread literacy.

Fortification of the town.

>>7765583
Did someone say Discworld?

>>7765619
I'm pretty sure I did. I even found a 'the Colour of Magic + Light fantastic' MOVIE at my local library. Seem pretty good so far. (1/2 of CoM

>>7765649
Not as good as the books, but still good. The guy they have playing Rincewind is awesome, as is the guy playing Vetinari. And Tim McCurry is ALWAYS a badass villain.

>>7765654
Cont. BTW, next time you read a Discworld book and Cohen the Barbarian is in it... you won't be able to read what he says without thinking that he's talking like Shawn Connery.

>>7765654
As it happens, I know nothing about film, actors, or anything like that.

However, I had already come to that exact conclusion.

>>7765661
...Oh no... He's actually played by Sean Connery?

Oh my god...