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>>3913668
Last time you’ve met Helena was almost straight after you’ve defeated the Mad Goddess, but you think that you’ve managed to form a positive opinion about yourself since she agreed to join you for some tea while you wait for the wounded former slaves to assemble for the treatment. There are currently 81 of them in the village and they come from at least 3 different settlements deep in the forest not counting Signy herself and that big swamp-green guy from Valistrat. Most of them speak pretty close dialects of a language that you don’t understand so to organize everyone you have to direct them through Signy who in turn messages the local leaders of those former slaves adding extra complexity to the whole effort. You did manage to plan this exercise in advance so they knew about the upcoming arrival of a healer but you still expect for this to take over an hour for everyone to assemble.

But while you wait, you might as well get your guest comfortable. Helena is not aware of your full powers so after giving her a seat behind the dining table you head out to the nearby kitchen personally to fire up the stove and put a kettle on it so that the water warms up while you prepare the pastries. You’ve saved a few since your birthday preparations which is not a lot but it is more than sufficient for your guest. You have some hard candies, cookies, a slice from one of your pies and so on. Almost as if you’ve planned this visit, which is about half true to be fair.

Sig and Haven leave almost immediately to help with organizing the people into the lecture hall of the town hall building to both help with the order and not to disturb the two of you, Rheia is still sleeping on the second floor and Nike’ with her cup are outside so you end up alone with your new guest. You serve her a kettle with some herbal tea and some pastries and you talk for a bit about the one event you two had in common: the aftermath of The Siege of Milisi. It is that border fortress half way to the western coast from Farsalos that was hit by the Mad Goddess forces and you’ve met Helena during the cleanup after the event. She claims that as the acid pools evaporated they painted all grass into brownish yellow colors and the nearby trees lost their leaves but Ninmah’s cups managed to heal the area. The few people that had complications due to breathing in the vapors were treated and the biggest damage was caused mostly to the various metal objects in the fortress such as stored weapons, armor and siege engines. She had to stay there until the replacements could arrive after which she ended up as the closest Asklepian to Farsalos which is why she arrived a bit early.

>>3913672
She compliments your pastries and then she notices your bandaged-up fingers. You try to pull this off as nothing serious and that it would heal on its own, but she stands up, takes your damaged hand and smiles. Your fingers below the bandages start glowing with dim golden light for a few moments after which the bandages fall off since the quickly regrowing flesh pushed them out. What would’ve taken you around 8 hours to heal completely was dealt with in a few moments. You thank her and she smiles, takes a seat once again and returns to the tea.

She then asks you to explain her the situation. You tell her that you managed to recover quite a lot of people from captivity in a barbaric settlement somewhere in the nearby forest and they all have the same injury: a cut tendon. It was a brutal form of torture which makes them unable to run or even walk quickly which was used by their slavers to prevent the escapes. Anyone who managed to escape their settlement would most likely succumb to the dangers of the forest or they would get caught quickly due to being unable to get far enough away. The wounds are too old and too numerous to be treated by the healer present in the village right now which is why you’ve asked for Helena’s help. She nods and then asks you if you’d like her to look into something else while she’s at it.

>No, you think that this would be everything that she needs to worry about
>The village has several people who are missing limbs from the last war with Valistrat. If she can treat them it would be great
>Farsalos suffered through several years of malnutrition. It would be nice if she could take a look at the local children to make sure they are growing up with no issues
>Rheia is a very smart girl, but you worry about her psychological and physical health after the whole “sacrifice” deal. It would be nice if she could spare some time to take a look at her
>Other ideas?

>>3913673

>The village has several people who are missing limbs from the last war with Valistrat. If she can treat them it would be great

>Rheia is a very smart girl, but you worry about her psychological and physical health after the whole “sacrifice” deal. It would be nice if she could spare some time to take a look at her

We have been bringing different kinds of food so I think we got the malnutrition covered

>>3913673

>Rheia is a very smart girl, but you worry about her psychological and physical health after the whole “sacrifice” deal. It would be nice if she could spare some time to take a look at her

>>3913676
+1

>>3913673
thanks Helena

>>3913676
>>3913679
>>3913682
Writing

>>3913688
Had a minor pc problem. Posting

>>3913789
You explain that there are two things that she might want to look into. First of all, there are several villagers that are missing various limbs and organs after the recent draft. There is a guy without a leg below the knee, someone was missing an eye and you remember that the village blacksmith was missing fingers on one of his hands. There are few of them, but still these are debilitating injuries that significantly limit their wellbeing and the things they can do. The second subject that you want her to look into is Rheia. She is a smart girl, but you worry about her health both physical and psychological. While she claims that the flashback episodes were gone, you still noticed that she always looks somewhat sad and suppressed even though she claims that it is her normal state. In addition, while she is an adult by local standards and she always acts mature, she still looks like she is around 14 years old when she is close to 18 in reality. You suspect that her puberty was delayed by the malnutrition, but you might be wrong.

Helena promises to take a look at the wounded veterans, but she warns you that in some cases she would not be able to help because it would take too much time and energy to completely regrow lost limbs. It is harder when the body has already healed compared to the recent wounds and she is on a bit of a schedule so she only promises to try. Regarding Rheia, she is surprised that you’d consider psychological health as important. Majority of mortals in these times are oblivious to the real dangers of the wide variety of such conditions. In most cases debilitating mental conditions are just ignored since it is considered the matter of willpower, devotion or some other similar nonsense. She would gladly take a look at Rheia.

Speaking of which, the sleepy girl in question was slowly making her way downstairs as you were talking. You greet her and introduce her to Helena who in turn decides that she might as well take a look at her now. She doesn’t actually have to examine in a conventional way, instead all it seemingly requires is her placing two thumbs on Rheia’s forehead with the rest of the palm partially wrapping around her head. “Well, good news is that she definitely doesn’t have much left over after the traumatic event. Post traumatic disorders are diagnosed if the symptoms persist over several months but she doesn’t seem to have the tell-tale signs of the condition. I see the somewhat stunted development due to malnourishment but it is minor and within two years she should catch up completely. She has some mild allergies to… citrus fruits and bee stings, nothing too serious."

>>3913804
"I can see some issues with the dopamine production… how to explain this… she has problems with feeling less happiness in general. It seems to be hereditary in this case but it was worsened by certain events. She feels less happiness for shorter periods of time while upsetting events impact her harder and for longer. She is basically perpetually mildly depressed, but I should be able to treat that. By the way, were there any symptoms such as vomiting or headaches?”

Rheia nods and says that she gets sick about twice or three times a week which is precluded by increasing headache after which comes relief. Helena touches several spots on Rheia: around the jaw, several places above the brows and some on her skull, neck and shoulders asking her if the spots hurt in some cases. “As I thought, chronic migraines. In children migraines are usually not concentrated in just headaches, recurring vomiting for seemingly no reason is the main symptom. Chronic migraines are caused by various factors and are initiated by “triggers” which in this case are involuntarily tensed up muscles and some things connected with the blood flow. It is pretty common, around 85% of people with that diagnosis have these triggers. Luckily, I studied neurology separately or I would have missed it. Now cheer up, I can treat everything.”

>>3913805
Helena tells Rheia to take a seat facing her and the entire treatment is done by rubbing motions with the fingers of certain points on her body along with applications of several strange tools from cup’s bag. These tools all were various pen- like rods tipped with perfectly spherical gems that glowed dimly as they were used. Now that you think about it, looks like Rheia had something similar to what your uncle Dan had. He was suffering from lifelong migraines but he managed to get a pretty pricy botulinum therapy where they inject literal Botox into something between 50 to 120 spots on the face and head using tiny insulin injector needles every 3 months or so for a couple years. It apparently killed the nerves responsible for sending pain signals from the migraine triggers which prevented the headaches or something like that, you are not sure and what you can look up in your head seems overly complicated.

Once she was done with Rheia, Helena pulled out a lollypop from her bag and gave it to her before letting your little friend to continue on her way. Then she turned to you and said: “Sorry for using very difficult terms, it is hard to explain when the very language that you speak lacks understanding of the fascinating complexity of the human body. Also, you might want to know that Rheia is very special. You’ve probably guessed from how quickly she learns, but she has a great gift. She is a natural “bright”, it is not a remote bloodline remnant. She is one of the few rarely born natural geniuses. While it is her choice, she might want to consider to go to Elspen University. She might become a great scholar one day.”

This is exciting news, really. You thank Helena for her help and for the next few minutes you discuss Rheia’s educational achievements. Helena is somewhat surprised by your knowledge, especially in mathematics since even though powerful monster hunters are usually semi-nobility, this level of understanding is still pretty hard to find beyond certain scholars and professions such as architects.

Then you hear a knock on the door. Signy is there to report that everyone is accounted for and assembled in the lecture hall. “Well, let’s go practice medicine” says Helena as she approaches the door as well.

Roll 1d20 for success

>>3913806
Whoops, forgot the bracket:
>Roll 1d20 please

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>3913807
oh lord no please

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>3913807
Rheia got a lollipop? i want one too!

>>3913813
praise be!

>>3913813
I am not sure what I expected, but SGQ dice strike again

>>3913818
The power of lolipops

Damm y'all rolls be crits for days.

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>3913813
Catgirls treatment activate her hidden potential into super catgirl

>>3913809
>>3913813
>>3913842
Writing

>>3913851
Post ready. Posting after spellchecking it one more time

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>>3914077
The two of you make your way to the town hall where literally every freed slave was assembled and waiting. You almost don’t recognize them at first since they look so much better than back when you’ve found them. They are much less pale and convenient access to baths did its thing. Contrary to a popular belief, people historically bathed less mostly because it was inconvenient and expensive to move and heat the water so if people could take baths more often, they would. In addition, they no longer have tattered rags and instead they wear linen clothes of a decent quality. You’d need to build mechanized textile industry to get better than that, but it is still better than what most border villages can afford. The renewed trade with Ceno helped a lot. However, you wonder how many of them would want to leave and how many would stay after the treatment. That guy from Valistrat wanted to go home as did that cat woman with her daughter but you wonder what would the others do.

The treatment plan is simple. One by one the people walk up to the podium where Helena examines and treats them after which they are free to head back into the village. The first couple cases take a bit of time as she gets used to the quirks of this type of injury, but by the tenth treatment she manages to streamline the process and it only takes around an hour and a half to process everyone. You expected that it would take much longer, but the ritualistic nature of the wound meant that it was repeated in exactly the same fashion by the slavers so it was simple for the Cup Bearer to repeat the treatment with almost no changes. The tricky case was that orc guy from Valistrat. His wounds were repeated several times on both legs and the tendons managed to partially and incorrectly heal. This meant that his case had to actually be cut open and part of the tissue had to be extracted before Helena could heal the tendons together. Luckily, magical anesthetic “pen” along with some kind of antibiotic liquid did the trick and the man could once again walk normally.

With such little time expended on the main issue, Helena decided that she might be able to treat the wounded veterans. It was simple to find them since some decided to wait nearby in hopes of catching the Cup Bearer and begging for treatment. Lucky for them, you didn’t forget about their injuries and all of them received their lost parts back. It took several hours, but it was worth it. It is so surreal to see how an eye or a limb forms and grows to its complete size fast enough to see with the naked eye. Considering your own abilities, it shouldn’t be that surprising, however it does look a little unnerving. With the last of the veterans fixed up, Helena wiped the sweat off her brow, smiled and told you quietly: “This is why I love this work. Seeing how people shed tears of joy as their biggest problems are washed away. Thank you for this opportunity, Agatha.”

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>>3914104
As the two of you leave the town hall you can feel the joy in the air. These people have just regained the ability to move freely. The younger of the former slaves are running around freely, some of the others decided that since they can now walk with no pain, they could help the village more as you can see a dozen of the hardy men helping out with carrying a processed log to the carpenter’s workshop from the village outskirts. Others decided that they should celebrate this wonderful event and all of them are smiling happily. As you pass near to the smithy you can see Conrad hugging his daughter as a tear runs down his cheek. Who knew that the manly man has such a soft side? But then again, this is a literal miracle for these people.

Helena suddenly calls out a person from the crowd and it turns out that it is Signy, the snow elf healer that you’ve saved along with everyone else. The Cup praises young woman’s abilities since she has noticed her attempts to heal the tendons. She claims that this helped her to understand the specifics of the wounds and she would like to give her a gift. She pulls out an item from her bag. It looks like a wand made out of silver with a clear sapphire cap. “You’ve lost your focus in this unfortunate event, right? I hope that it would serve you well.” Signy is not sure if she can accept this but Helena insists that it would be simple for her to replace such an item.

After she leaves you ask the Cup Bearer of what that item was. She replied that it is a type of focus similar to the Mortati’s caduceus that every graduate of the healer courses gets, but it is smaller, higher quality and more precise. Intended more to focus the spell’s effect on the single wound and not to throw generalized restorative effects at people from the other side of the room. It can be used for that purpose, to be fair, it just performs better than the caduceus for finer healing such as with the surgery or for mend bone quickly. She thinks that Signy would get more use out of it than her since she hasn’t used it for a while as basically all of her other tools are either more accurate or can do the same tasks with little difficulty. In fact, she can mend wounds with the same accuracy using her staff from half of the village away if she has to. And she didn’t lie, it would only take a few months to requisition a new one.

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>>3914108
As you turn to the street of your home you almost run into Nike’ in her civilian mask. She notices the two of you and says: “Oh, hey, so that’s who was using so much power. I didn’t expect that Mortati would send someone of your caliber, Helena.” To alleviate Cup’s confusion, the war goddess pointed at the hair pin after which the healer realized who that person was. “Well, I’m done with the shrine and I’m getting the call from “the above” so I’ll need to head out now. Ag, Mina would inform you once the window for the meeting is known. And Helena, I might as well give you a lift. Where do you need to head out next?” She replies that her next assignment is near Chai’rli. Nika nods and the two of them bid you farewells before they disappear into the thin air. Considering how convenient the whole teleporting looks, you wonder if anyone besides her can use the anchor network.

The events don’t end for today, however. That orc guy from Valistrat is waiting for you neat to your house. He finally introduces himself as “Gaeorgis” and he apologizes for his uptight attitude. From now on though, you will refer to him as “George” to make the associations in your head simpler. He expected a treatment more comparable to being a prisoner of war once you’ve brought him in, considering the recent events between Val and Ceno. George came to you since he considers you as de facto ruler of the village. He would like to thank you for your excellent treatment of him. Now that he is healed, he would like to head back for his home.

>Ask him to stay for a month. You don’t want the news of your existence to spread to Valistrat before you meet with Elspeth
>Ask him to not mention anything about your powers or the fact that cup bearers visited this village. It might cause some unnecessary tensions if that floats up
>Wish him good luck on his merry way
>Tell him that you will arrange for some travelling gear and cash to help him with his travels. It won’t be that much for you but it would make his trip much less uncomfortable and much more likely to succeed
>Tell him that you would accompany him. You might as well use this as an excuse to take a look at how your neighboring state lives. Not that you really need one, to be fair
>Tell him that you can give him a lift to the nearest Val border fortress. It would take you something around 3 or 4 hours judging by the map.
>Deny him the chance to head back home for now. You can’t risk the news spilling out to their pantheon
>Other?

>>3914111

>Tell him that you will arrange for some travelling gear and cash to help him with his travels. It won’t be that much for you but it would make his trip much less uncomfortable and much more likely to succeed
And
>Ask him to not mention anything about your powers or the fact that cup bearers visited this village. It might cause some unnecessary tensions if that floats up

They will know sooner or later and his travel might take a lot of time too, send the ugly on his way and tell him that his treatment was the same as the other victims of the tribe and we accept his thanks, we would not treat an injuried person badly because of past wars and tensions.

>>3914111

>Tell him that you will arrange for some travelling gear and cash to help him with his travels. It won’t be that much for you but it would make his trip much less uncomfortable and much more likely to succeed

Visiting Valistrad sounds tempting but I'd prefer to do it alone later

>>3914134
>>3914111
+1

extend the offers to the others that wish to leave too

for those that want to head near the forest, advise them not to go, I feel responsible for them and I'd hate to see them get captured, enslaved and crippled again.
I don't know which direction catgirl and catMILF are going but see if its safe

we should check with Signy if she is staying too, a healer to the adventuring party would be nice

>>3914167
The cat- mom along with a small part of the people from the same settlement would have to cross the forest on their own. Their settlement is on the northern edge of it in the DMZ between Holies and Valistrat. The rest are from the settlements deep in the forest so if they want to leave it would not be fun. You don't expect them to survive without escort.

>>3914182
So ask them to stay until we can arrange an escort, it would be extremely dumb on their part to go there alone

>>3914182
Mina would be more than enough right? Maybe that is the first task we can ask of her, how many days to reach it at the earliest?

>>3914194
Well, yeah, but it would take a while. For the further settlement it might be easier for you to just haul the cat people there with your flight. Regarding the rest, you might want to wait for them to decide by themselves first on how they'd prefer to act since you have two communities: people from a raided settlement and people from a different and completely destroyed settlement so you are not sure if they'd want to stay, leave, form some other settlement nearby or something else. But I can make that choice into your policy for everyone who wants to leave alone.

>>3914134
>>3914140
>>3914167
I see, writing

>>3914226
Then ask the cats to wait a bit for us to haul them there and wait for the others to decide, havily suggest that it's better staying
We can do the hauling after they are done celebrating and things are quieter

>>3914228
You tell George that you will provide him with some supplies and cash for the trip. You don’t think that Ceno people would be too kind to him and he can’t expect to just scavenge and hunt for his supplies. He’d need some travel clothes, some camping gear, rations, some tools, a self-defense weapon like a sword and some money to sleep in settlements and to buy food. However, you’d ask him not to report your powers or the fact that he has seen several of the Ceno pantheon’s Cup Bearers. You wish to remain independent for now and while you can’t keep the secret of your existence forever, you’d prefer the reveal to happen on your terms. George agrees to this arrangement and leaves you for today.

While you don’t trust him not to report on you, you think that you would still win a lot of time this way. After all, just judging by the map it would be a journey of very roughly 450 kilometers if he wishes to travel through civilized territories. Trying to cut through the forest would be pure insanity, which would reduce the distance to below a 100 km but it would be extremely dangerous. You are a rare case as you can walk nonstop at speeds of a car on a paved road so let’s see what it would look like for a human. On foot average distance you could travel in a day with luggage is 15 kilometers, 20-22 if you travel light. Traveling by horse is about 30-40 km a day with no spares and up to 60 km with spare horses. However, these are optimal travel times. In reality the travelling might be much slower which can be caused by a variety of things from weather and the road situation to even festival induced traffic jams. Taking into account the upper estimate for travel on foot, it would take 20-30 days assuming best possible travel speed. Also, most travelers only move for 5 days in a row taking several days of rest which also adds up to the time. So, you most likely have over a month anyway even if the first thing he does is to report you to the first military post he sees.

>>3914473
From your side, you could prepare his gear within a day. There are a few relatively bad quality swords left over from back when you were dealing with bandits and the rest of the stuff can be quickly found or made by you. Thus, you decide that it would be the standard offer to anyone of the former slaves who wishes to leave Farsalos by themselves. However, you don’t think that it would be an option that anyone would really consider. The entire group of the former slaves consists out of three separate communities. One of them is the group with the cat-mom and her daughter along with several other members from a place to the far north from Farsalos at the northern edge of the forest. It is unlikely that they’d be capable of reaching it in any reasonable timeframe while also being under a threat of monster attacks. It would be over two weeks of travel on foot in the best case. It would be easier and faster for you to literally carry them all in one go and flying above the forest. So, you’d suggest them to wait for your help if they want to leave.

The other two groups are a part of the same proto- civilization. They were living in two separate villages relatively close by in the depth of the forest which for them meant trade and pretty good relations. One of these villages was completely burned to the ground in the slaver attack so you expect them either to stay, build a new village or to move to the other settlements in the forest. They are led by the stoic horned woman who was a daughter of that village’s chieftain. The other group was captured during raids and they think that their settlement might still be around. They are led by some strong guy who kind of looks like a lion with his beard and physics defying hairstyle. In any case, you decided that you need to give them more time to figure it out by themselves.

But for now, you think that you’re done with the adventures for today. While you don’t need sleep, you think that it would be nice to hop into a warm and soft bed after such a big day…
_________________________________________
And on this note I have to wrap up. My meds are starting to kick in and I can no longer focus sufficiently to continue writing. As usual, feel free to ask questions, give suggestions and discuss during inter- session period and see you next time.

>>3914481
Thanks for running, good luck at the hospital and see you next time

>>3914481
Thank you for running and we all wish you well for your hospital visit
Until next time

>>3914481
Last thread died before I could post this: thread 37 is now archived

>>3914481
Well, guys, I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I’ll most likely be able to run this Saturday. Bad news is that I’ll have a few random pauses like getting an IV or random doctor visits. I will also have to wrap up about 2 hours earlier, however I’ll most likely be able to start a couple hours earlier as well. Would that be fine?

>>3923871
of course it's fine but you don't have to push yourself, we can stay a week away, only if you feel it's absolutely fine

>>3923871
health is number 1 priority so don't push yourself, we can live with a short thread

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>>3923871
A beam of morning sunlight makes its way through the partially closed window and lands straight on your face which causes you to squirm a little. While it doesn’t feel as awful to wake up early after the pod, you are still closer to the “owl” chronotype, even though you are not sure if it still applies to you. You sit up in your bed, stretch and yawn. Even though you don’t need sleep, it is still a nice thing to do from time to time and yesterday was a busy day. After a long hot shower and some other morning routines you make your way to the first floor of your house. On the way down you’ve noticed that Mina has already moved her stuff since her Shrine was already completed. Another thing that piques your attention is the smell of something cooking.

In the dining room you meet Haven and Sig sitting at the table and eating porridge. They greet you and inquire about how you’ve slept after which Haven points out that there is a pot of oatmeal porridge in the kitchen and that you’re free to get some for yourself. You nod and head to the kitchen to grab your breakfast. You pour yourself some of the leftover orange juice into a large mug leaving less than a third of the jug left. As much as you’d want to save some of it for longer, you don’t have a constantly active fridge yet so it would go off very quickly. After that with a small gesture you levitate a plate and open the still very much warm pot. While many people openly dislike porridges, you have a more neutral stance on them. During certain pollen heavy seasons, they were one of the few things you could eat so you eventually got used to various types of porridges. Plus, people say that they are healthy, even though they are comparable to bread in calories. Nevertheless, after looking at the plate one more time you’ve decided to sprinkle some chopped dried fruit into it to make it a bit more palatable.

You take a seat at the table and start eating your breakfast. In the meantime, you end up chatting with Haven regarding that thing you asked her to do. Essentially, now when all the rescued slaves are healed, it is possible for them to return home but besides Signy and George none of them are from the major nation- states. You asked Haven to accompany Signy and inquire about the positions of each separate group of these people. You’d prefer to encourage them to stay, but they are free to decide for themselves on what they’d like to do. While Signy is the only person who can speak their language sufficiently, you wanted Haven to help her with presenting the options. She is a nobility after all so negotiations were in her competences.

>>3926240

Haven replies that the smallest group of around 14 people which includes the cat-mom’s family wishes to return home in their entirety. They motivate it with wishing to return to their families. Since you’ve predicted such possibility, they were informed that due to the danger involved in this journey you would personally haul them across when you can spare the time in the near future and they should stay in the village until that time comes.

The other two groups are yet to reach a consensus. In general, the group from the burned down village wishes to rebuild but they can’t decide if they’d want to return to their lost homes and restore them or if they’d rebuild at some other location. The options include some spot in the woods closer to our territory or an idea to make a village in the open like Farsalos with walls and buildings instead of tents and huts but they don’t have the required knowledge to attempt that and they are concerned of overstaying their welcome if they ask the villagers or you to build for them. However, few are considering staying inside of Farsalos preferring to get a place that they could call theirs.

The second group partially wishes to return home, but at the same time some of them are swayed by the improved living conditions. There was some talk about attempting to bring the conveniences to their settlement, but they eventually concluded that all of this requires maintenance and without skills and resources to replace worn out objects these items won’t last long. Now they are split between staying or going home with most of them unable to decide at the moment. Some who wish to stay would prefer to invite some of their families which were not captured along them which complicates things. However, an interesting thing was mentioned during the discussion: the surviving village lies on the eastern bank of a river. There is a high chance that it is the same river that passes close to the agricultural fields to the north-west of Farsalos and it might be possible to establish waterborne connection between them and us. This could potentially allow us to ship off them all in one go if we assemble a big enough boat. They would be upstream from us though, but it should be possible to row against the current. Also, she recommends scouting out the village before sending people there to map out the river and to check if their settlement still exists.

>>3926242
Also, apparently the new hunters went to Zosime to inquire about you. She considered that there is no reason to lie since you’ve openly displayed your powers on that day. They were told that you are one of the Outsiders, which is basically the same as “wandering god without a pantheon” in Ceno mythology. Haven thinks that the group is a bit scared and unnerved, but she doesn’t think that they would attempt to leave just yet. They might want to learn more about you first before deciding on their next actions. The fact of having Nike’s altar in the village gives you some points for being connected to Ceno pantheon but they most likely want to know enough about you to judge your motivations and personality at least on some level. They also think that Haven and Sig are your followers which makes listening in to their discussions more difficult and Haven doesn’t think that she could acquire much more than this in terms of information.

You thank Haven for her input and wrap up with your meal. It is time to go back into the salt mines. You expect to meet Elspeth in about a month, maybe sooner, maybe later. And you have lots of things that you could be doing in the meantime…

>Construction: you have several things planned such as metallurgic plants, outposts, defenses and roads bumped to the top of the to-do list. Some assembly required…
>Research: you’ve just discovered how to project your psi energy into things. What else can you do? Time to take another look at your research list
>Exploration: you think that it might be a good idea to scout out that settlement in the forest. Clearing out Labyrinth might also be nice, as well as scouting and clearing out nearby regions to reduce the strain on the Farsalos defenders
>Social: you’d like to talk with the leaders of the rescued slaves to discuss their options. Also maybe looking into those new hunters might be a good idea…
>Special: you have a task for Mina. Maybe she can scout for you, or maybe you’d like to test her skills somehow…
>Other: anything else that comes to mind

>>3926243
>Construction: you have several things planned such as metallurgic plants, outposts, defenses and roads bumped to the top of the to-do list. Some assembly required…

>>3926243
>>Construction: you have several things planned such as metallurgic plants, outposts, defenses and roads bumped to the top of the to-do list. Some assembly required…

before we start tho, lets talk with the hunters, show them that we aren't a monster and that they should ask around about what we have done and how we have acted

>>3926243
also, before i forget it again
welcome back and i hope your are doing ok with your health, focus on getting better if this turns out to taxing

>>3926243

>Exploration: you think that it might be a good idea to scout out that settlement in the forest. Clearing out Labyrinth might also be nice, as well as scouting and clearing out nearby regions to reduce the strain on the Farsalos defenders

Lets secure the place before we have to be away for some tine

>>3926243

>Construction: you have several things planned such as metallurgic plants, outposts, defenses and roads bumped to the top of the to-do list. Some assembly required…

Talk to the villagers too, Invite the other villagers to stay, Rhea and Signy can help in teaching them the language

>>3926251
>>3926255
>>3926260
>>3926261
Ok let's see, most people want construction project. One anon wants to do some monster clearing. In addition, there is one request to talk with monster hunters and one to talk to freed slaves regarding their integration into Farsalos. We'll glance through the social stuff first since the opinions on those are preset and then look into building plans and exploration.

>>3926288
Before you start on the more time-consuming projects, you decided to knock out the more immediate concerns. First, you’d like to pay a visit to the new monster hunters. It looks like they are concerned with your nature and the cat is already out of the bag. They were told that you are an Outsider, a type of wandering god in Ceno mythology, which is technically true. Sometimes Outsiders are benevolent, willing to help the random people they meet. Others can be malevolent entities, comparable to natural disasters if they wish, or maybe just tormenting their new favorite mortal toys. The most well-known of Outsiders in the region is Apostate, a person driven by a dogma that is judged evil or good depending on whom to ask: removal of all religions and gods.

The new hunters reside in the Farsalos inn so you head directly towards it thinking of how you should approach this situation. Once you approach it, however, you don’t really have any prepared plans for a discussion, so you decide to just wing it. As you open the door you immediately notice the whole monster hunter group huddled around a round table discussing something. The door’s bell rings causing their attention to shift towards you. You smile a little towards them and enter the building. Their faces turn pale as you grab a chair from an unoccupied table nearby and take a sit next to them. “Hello there. Don’t worry, I mean no harm. I’d like to talk with you guys.”

The hunters who almost bolted out of their seats slowly take their places and the “tanky” guy next to you asks: “…Okay, ma’am, what do you need from us?” You explain that you know about their previous inquiry about yourself to the village chief and that’s what you’d like to talk about. The hunters tensed up significantly, but you tried to maintain a nice and friendly appearance. You tell them that they can calm down and you’re not some monster. You’ve found this village in an extreme state of despair and you’ve helped to restore it better than it was. You do what you feel is right and you don’t demand worship or anything like that in return. But it is not like they have to just believe you. They are free to ask around the village about your deeds and your behaviors. This did not help much with the tension, but one of the hunters thanked you for the permission. In the end you’ve decided to leave not to bother them too much. As you close the door behind you, you hear several sighs of relief from the hunters. Are you really that scary?

>>3926484
In any case, your second stop was grabbing Signy and finding the leaders of the two recovered tribes. While you are giving them the time to decide, you’d like to offer them some options. First, you would take care of the language issues if they decide to stay as a part of Farsalos. You’d organize Cenophilan courses for them free of charge so that they could assimilate with less issues. In addition, you would provide housing for those wising to stay and it is possible for you to establish a separate settlement from Farsalos if enough people would wish to settle nearby. You can also help with transportation of those willing to move back home assuming it still exists, and you don’t have any issues with those who want their families to emigrate here. You are also ok with only parts of their groups deciding to stay or move, it doesn’t have to be everyone. The two tribe leaders thank you for your generous offer and they would make their decisions after consulting with their people. Since it is such an important decision, they would like some time to think which you are fine with.

Now than you’re done with the immediate people stuff, you can turn your attention to the projects that take time to complete. In particular, construction and exploration of the wilderness. First, you’d like to tackle the former. You look at your to-do list and at the very top you have several projects with the same priority. You must pick what you need to tackle and in what order:

>>3926485
>Road construction: connecting Farsalos with nearest town, Labyrinth entrance and north- eastern basin outpost would be a great investment for trade making travel faster, safer and easier. It is long term, but simple project. Time depends mostly on how exactly you want to construct the roads…

>Labyrinth entrance reinforcement: current Labyrinth entrance is sealed with boulders and you have to climb over a collapsed cave to get in and out which is not the best thing. By throwing various amounts of masonry and engineering at the problem you can make access to the Labyrinth easier while simultaneously reinforcing it against monster attacks. It is a large project that would take increasing amount of time and resources based on all the bells and whistles you want to add to it, aka defensive measures.

>Iron production chain: current iron production is a god awfully inefficient “bloomery” method in a furnace that can’t melt iron completely and the result is always varied to the point of making it useless for machinery. You should have everything that you need to set up everything from mines to blast furnaces to convertors to get simple cast iron and steel production set up. Time really depends on desired production scale. Cast iron is good as bulk metal while steel has great mechanical qualities. Powered steel lathe that is required for more complex machinery needs decent steel made by this facility.

>Colored metals plant: A universal facility designed for processing of copper, lead, zinc, tin and nickel from ores straight into ingots and their alloys. Even though each ore requires different approach, there are still certain general methods that are used such as flotation which allow you to dump the entire production chain under one roof. This is a medium to big project which relies on production volume and simultaneous throughput of several metals at once. Colored metals have niche applications and are valuable for their alloys. For example, gunmetal (copper-tin-zinc alloy) is used in mechanisms like steam engine parts while zinc and nickel are especially useful when added to steel.

>Other ideas?

>>3926485
sad that they were so defensive, but it hope asking around to confirm our helpful nature can get them to calm down a little

>Labyrinth entrance reinforcement: current Labyrinth entrance is sealed with boulders and you have to climb over a collapsed cave to get in and out which is not the best thing. By throwing various amounts of masonry and engineering at the problem you can make access to the Labyrinth easier while simultaneously reinforcing it against monster attacks. It is a large project that would take increasing amount of time and resources based on all the bells and whistles you want to add to it, aka defensive measures.

thinking back how others have reacted to the state of the entrance, we should probably do this first, so that if the news come out it doesn't turn to paincs or similarly bad decisions

i would advocate for a connection to the nearest town next, to make trade easier

>>3926487

>Iron production chain: current iron production is a god awfully inefficient “bloomery” method in a furnace that can’t melt iron completely and the result is always varied to the point of making it useless for machinery. You should have everything that you need to set up everything from mines to blast furnaces to convertors to get simple cast iron and steel production set up. Time really depends on desired production scale. Cast iron is good as bulk metal while steel has great mechanical qualities. Powered steel lathe that is required for more complex machinery needs decent steel made by this facility.

We could hire the hunters to investigate that monster that was apparently controling the wolves? Not to engage it but just to investigate its existence and if he is indeed in charge of the others and then come back to us. Only do this is its a task they could reasonably handle and not sonething that would most likely result in their deaths

Could we spend some downtime from the construction, maybe the time at night so we don't bother the village, investigating Haven's artifact with her? We had some insight on how to channel psy energy after we watched Nike so maybe we can restore it to working conditions or understand better what it needs, with the added bonus of spending some time with Haven and having her hairlooon maybe working again

>>3926487

>Labyrinth entrance reinforcement: current Labyrinth entrance is sealed with boulders and you have to climb over a collapsed cave to get in and out which is not the best thing. By throwing various amounts of masonry and engineering at the problem you can make access to the Labyrinth easier while simultaneously reinforcing it against monster attacks. It is a large project that would take increasing amount of time and resources based on all the bells and whistles you want to add to it, aka defensive measures.

Lets seal it better to make sure nothing can cone out of it, we could even clear a road where on the way there, then we can finish the road to Mirangi and the northen outpost we built

>>3926500
I like the suggestions

>>3926500
Going into the deep wilderness is a tad bit too dangerous especially when you have no idea what to look for. In addition, since you suspect a monster controlling creature, it would make an encounter much more difficult in case they have to fight since they would be swarmed with enemies that are difficult to kill when they are alone, much worse when they are in a group. I doubt that they'd accept such a task.

>>3926500
>>3926504
And yeah, regarding the Haven thing, sure, I'll add it to the post

>>3926509
do not hire them then, thinking about it, we will probably have to face this thing some moment or other since we will be in the wilderness and it will probably be attracted to whatever rockus we will be raising

>>3926487

>Road construction: connecting Farsalos with nearest town, Labyrinth entrance and north- eastern basin outpost would be a great investment for trade making travel faster, safer and easier. It is long term, but simple project. Time depends mostly on how exactly you want to construct the roads…

>>3926491
>>3926500
>>3926504
Labyrinth it is then with Haven's artifact research during the process. Touching roads after that, writing.

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>>3926548
You decided to investigate reinforcing the Labyrinth entrance first. This project is of critical importance due to how risky it is and due to its current state. You’ve collapsed a path between the copper mine and the Labyrinth and now the only way of entrance is through a collapsed roof over the former giant spider lair. The entrance itself is blocked up with large boulders manually. All of this is bad on many levels. First of all, this makes trade extremely difficult as caravans can’t climb 30-degree slope produced by a cave- in. Secondly, it doesn’t provide enough protection from Labyrinth monsters. Considering that dwarves almost literally next door had a visit from a “forgotten beast”, you must be very lucky that nothing tried to claw its way up to eat your villagers.

As you look at the particular massive hole in the ground, you imagine several different ways in which you can approach this project. You could go for program minimum by clearing rubble, establishing a ramp or an elevator and installing a thick wooden door instead of boulders. Program optimum would mean excavation of the nearby area, reinforcement and a complete masonry finish to the floor and walls which would increase the durability of the whole structure. Program maximum would see the creation of essentially a castle keep on top of the previously mentioned structure and it would be intended to house a garrison and defend the entrance from the surface attacks much better than just a palisade fence.

The second choice that you need to make is of a material. Here you have 4 choices: concrete, bricks, limestone and basalt. You don’t think that you’d want to use clay brick since you can exhaust the clay pit at this rate. Concrete is quick to work with but not as durable as the rest of the picks. Limestone is the classics of castle design, but you’d have to haul it from pretty far away. Basalt is harder than limestone which makes it a tougher material, but it would take longer to work with. In the end, you decided to pick basalt since your main requirement is durability.

The third part of the choice is whatever bells and whistles you want to put into the plans. Just remember that when the defenses start looking like “American Ninja Warrior” obstacle course you might need to tone it down a little…

General blueprint:
>Program minimum (1 week)- ramp and a door
>Program optimum (2 weeks) - full basement and a fence
>Program maximum (1 month)- complete keep with accommodations

How to get out of the hole (pick 1):
>Ramp: allows easy and high throughput access
>Elevator: requires manual operation, inaccessible for some monsters

>>3926691
Bells and whistles:

>Reinforced wooden gate (4 days): massive wooden door reinforced with iron braces. Difficult to break through

>Scavenged vault door (2 days): small metal door from pod shelter. Internal mechanisms are completely rusted but stainless-steel alloy is still holding strong. Due to its size frame is more vulnerable to attack than the door. In addition, it is too small for larger caravans to pass through

>Secondary gate and defensive line (5 days): massive reinforced wooden door and a thick stone wall acting as a secondary defensive line which forms an “airlock” allowing for the access to the Labyrinth to be sealed at all times

>Emergency sealing mechanism (8 days): massive slab of rock suspended over the gate designed to fall on command to completely block the entrance in case of an emergency of monster breach. Difficult to reset

>Heavy siege weapon nest (6 days): massive torsion catapults safe on an elevated position and covered with embrasures targeting the entrance gate and down the “throat” of the Labyrinth entrance. Capable of flinging chunks of rock or oversized spears at speeds sufficient to damage stone castles, a single volley should easily take out some of the larger monsters

>Killing floor (4 days): an elevated path above the entrance with machicolations and battlements designed specifically for the defenders to shoot down at whatever is trapped between the first and second defensive lines

>Tar boilers (5 days): machicolations above the gates fitted with large tar- filled cauldrons designed to pour searing hot solution on the enemy below

>Explosive trap (2 days): mechanism that arms and launches frag barrels filled with gunpowder or incendiary barrels into the killing zone. Quick and powerful, but pricy to maintain.

>Other ideas?

>>3926693
And on this note I have to wrap up for now. I have to go to sleep but we will continue tomorrow. Feel free to discuss the options until then.

>>3926691
>>Program minimum (1 week)- ramp and a door
>Emergency sealing mechanism (8 days): massive slab of rock suspended over the gate designed to fall on command to completely block the entrance in case of an emergency of monster breach. Difficult to reset

since we only have about a month before the meeting we should just make sure its sae and that it can be sealed, leave room to expand to the castle later after we are done with the meeting

>>3926708
You need to pick between ramp and elevator too

>>3926712
>>Elevator: requires manual operation, inaccessible for some monsters

with a very small side tunnel to allow evacuation if things go south, collapsable too

>>3926693
>>3926708
>>3926715
these two seem sensible

>>3926708
>>3926716
You guys don’t want a reinforced gate? Only emergency sealing and normal thick wooden gate on the entrance?

>>3926691

>Program optimum (2 weeks) - full basement and a fence

>Emergency sealing mechanism (8 days): massive slab of rock suspended over the gate designed to fall on command to completely block the entrance in case of an emergency of monster breach. Difficult to reset

>Heavy siege weapon nest (6 days): massive torsion catapults safe on an elevated position and covered with embrasures targeting the entrance gate and down the “throat” of the Labyrinth entrance. Capable of flinging chunks of rock or oversized spears at speeds sufficient to damage stone castles, a single volley should easily take out some of the larger monsters
>elevator

>>3926722
Add the gate too

>>3926725
Yeah, sorry. I was a little vague. The Labyrinth entrance looks like a tube that goes down continuously at between 15 and 20 degree angles depending on the tube in question. The place where this tube exits through the bedrock(or in this case into a cave) is called a “throat”. That is where the first gate option goes. With no choice you get a thick wooden gate placed there, with the option picked the gate is reinforced with iron braces which make them more resilient

>>3926738
>>Reinforced wooden gate (4 days): massive wooden door reinforced with iron braces. Difficult to break through
add the reinforced option

>>3926708
>>3926715
>>3926716
>>3926724
>>3926969
Good day, everyone, Ok, let's see. 3 people want the sealing mechanism, 2 people want program minimum and a reinforced gate, one person wants program optimum with heavy siege weapons and everyone wants an elevator.

Due to significant disagreement between two choices, I have to take program minimum with an option to develop it further at a later date. We also get an elevator, sealing mechanism, siege nest and a reinforced door. Writing

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>>3928252
You decide that time right now is of an essence. You need to make the entrance as safe as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. This means that you’d implement only minimal structure that would support the gate. However, at the same time you plan to continue construction in the future when you have the time and need for it. You’ve also decided to add a siege weapon nest and an emergency sealing mechanism which require a lot of support structures.

You start with clearing out all the cave-in debris and dumping it somewhere in the uninhabited territory ending up with a pretty large underground area to work with. By using your telekinesis to improvise a jackhammer you clear and smooth out some parts of the cave. The next step is a tedious process of digging up and cutting large basalt blocks that would be used for construction. To reinforce the frame, you essentially wedged columns of blocks between the cave floor and ceiling at every corner and on the two sides of the Labyrinth throat. You then constructed a gatehouse around the throat and installed a heavily reinforced wooden door. It is made from thick oak bars tied together with iron bands. The gate ended up so heavy that it would need six people to open and close, but it should be even more resilient to damage than inner gates in Farsalos.

The gatehouse also has another purpose. It is supporting the emergency sealing mechanism. Inspired by a similar dwarven device, it includes two railings and a massive slab of basalt suspended above the gate by an intricate combination of anchors. Once enough anchors are released, the slab falls down with a loud “thud” while the railings prevent it from falling out of alignment. This slab is so big that it is close to the edge of what you can lift and after a couple test firings you secured and armed the slab in the “open” position. In case of a monster attack guards could dislodge a couple anchors to completely seal off the surface from the Labyrinth.

Opposite to the Labyrinth gate you assemble a tower with housings for three stationary weapons. Usually it is difficult to supply siege weapons placed on the walls due to all the work required to carry projectiles. Here you hollowed out a small stockpile behind the siege emplacements as well as a tunnel to the surface that would be used to restock the weapons and as an escape route so it is somewhat less of an issue. The weapons themselves are a type of heavy ballista that require 5 people to operate and can utilize bowling ball sized rocks and huge spears as projectiles. They should be enough to knock the wind out of even some larger monsters. The machines are slanted down to allow for the operators to fire through the open gate and into the depth of the Labyinth which gives them almost 300 meters of uninterrupted line of sight down a straight lava pipe. Now the only question is who would man this stuff…

File: Treadwheel cranes.jpg (50 KB, 500x639)

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>>3928303
The last item in your to-do list is an elevator. You could’ve used a slope to allow for easier access to the surface but that’s a two-way street. It would allow for various monsters to also easily access your village. So, your choice is a wooden treadwheel crane. It is a bit bigger example of a similar design that you’ve used during the wall construction, but it would allow for caravan to be raised one at a time by one to four people inside of those two giant “hamster wheels”. As a measure of precaution, you’ve added almost 7 times the weight reserve to the cable in comparison to what the operators could pull as well as railings to prevent the carriage from shifting during ascent and descent. You think that you’d need to return to all of this at a later date and overhaul some things, but it is the best you can achieve for now.

To prevent overworking and to introduce some variety to your routine, you’ve decided not to build during night hours. At that time, you did some other miscellaneous things such as preparing George’s gear and sending him on his merry way, teaching Rheia in the evenings and puzzling with psi objects such as Nike’s ring and Rozen’s bracelet with Haven. You had some improvements with the ring since you’re slowly getting used to the blurred sensory input which now no longer makes you dizzy. You still can’t see and hear as good as without it, but it is better than nothing. Haven also taught you how to resize her present. Apparently, you need to focus your psi energy at very low power into the two ring sections on the two edges of the bracelet. If you stop pouring in energy and then start again it toggles between growing and shrinking. Curiously, the bracelet always tries to align itself with one particular gem touching the front of the wrist. You wonder how is that relevant…

>Roll 1d20 and pick an action

>Pour some energy into the stone on the front wrist
>Pour some energy into one of the stones on the sides of the wrist
>Pour some energy into the central ring section
>Pour energy into the entire artifact
>Don’t experiment with potentially dangerous magitech tools for now…
>Other?

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>3928307
Front of the wrist pls
Also dicegods I implore you, give me your blessings

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3928307
>>Pour some energy into the stone on the front wrist

very very little as to not damage the thing even on a 1, we just want to see if it will react

>>3928310
HOLY SHIT
no more rolls, I got your warnings

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>3928307
Front

>>3928313
dice gods don't like to be disturbed on a sunday

>>3928314
Thank you anon, I was scared shitless of rolling fearing a one and breaking the gift from my dearest Haven.
Ag must be weating bullets while messing with it

>>3928310
>>3928311
>>3928314
Alright, front it is, writing

>>3928332
Eventually you decided to attempt to power the bracelet somehow. Since it reacts to application of psi to specific part of the artifact you theorize that the way you operate it is to apply power to other specific parts of it. Such as the three crystals. They might signify three different effects that the bracelet can use, or maybe you’re wrong. But there is no way to tell until you try. So, one day you and Haven leave for an area some distance away from the village for some field testing.

To prevent overloading of the artifact, you’ve decided to use the lowest power that is practical and slowly crank up the output until you reach some kind of effect. Haven decided to stand some distance away just in case while you warmed up your powers and started slowly ramping up the flow into the gem that was sitting at the front of your wrist. You eventually reach the output of Haven and nothing happens. The gem keeps sucking up the power that you provide with no signs of activity.

You decide to continue pushing in more and more energy until you feel something inside of that gem. Almost like a tiny light, but only sensible with psi feeling. You feel like instead of sucking it up or pushing it out you can just… touch it with your psi power. It is the first time you’ve seen something like this and of course your next reaction was to touch it.

A massive pulse of pain rolls across your body before the limiters engage and cut off the neural feed. This causes you to twist in pain and fall on the grass as the sensation slowly retreats. When you come to your senses you notice that all of the grass and leaves on the trees within about ten meters away from you completely withered and turned to a grey dry color. You quickly glance to Haven and make a sigh of relief as she was just far enough away not to be affected. You slowly get on your feet and get tangled up in your clothes. Why do they feel so loose now?

With concern you look at your hands. They appear thin, almost as if you were on the verge of starvation with blue veins bulging out and clearly visible. Your frame significantly deflated giving you an appearance of an extremely frail person. Well, at least your hair didn’t fall out this time, but they are ash grey now. You look at your reflection in your sword and you conclude that you don’t actually look old, only frail and sickly. You bet that you can recover on your own, but it would probably take an inconveniently long time.

>>3928354
Haven looks worried at you while you gesture her to stay where she is as you examine the artifact further. You can now clearly see three of those “lights”. One inside of each of the gems as well as three small psi currents forming a whirlpool around those lights. So that’s what is going on. The gems are both triggers and batteries. The artifact was literally out of charge and you’ve probably pushed the “emergency recharge” button of sorts. Now that it has more energy you are introduced to more options that you can now afford. You can also just barely feel that those psi lights can be interacted in three distinct ways: pushing them forward, pulling them backward and pressing on them. You assume that it should be the controls for the effects. Maybe pulling the “knob” in your direction would target you for the effect while pushing it away would direct the effect at an external target? What would pressing do then? Both options? Area of Effect casting? You need to look at this further.

Then you notice that the gems started glowing with normal light as well. The gem on the top of the wrist glows dim red, the one on the left glows greenish while the one on the right has blueish purple glow. You can…

Direction
>Push forward
>Pull backward
>Press in

Gem
>Red gem
>Green gem
>Blue gem

>>3928355
Having to go out, sorry. Voting continues until I'm back

>>3928355

>push inward

>the green one

And then

>push outwards

>the blue one

Make sure not to leave Haven on the way

>>3928355
it seems to affect plants too so
>Push Forward
at a tree or something
let's test all their effects

start with
>green
>blue
>red

try to use little energy to not depleate it's "batery" focus on the target with our hightened senses to notice any change as minimal as it can be

>>3928368
>>3928361
Yeah support

do we still hurt? are we physically or magically weak?
ask Haven about color significance in their society.
push forward against a withered tree with a harmless-seeming colour.

this confirms if our guess about forward is correct.

if it is, test each forward.

if colour effect is harmless, test inward with that color.

>>3928376
We are physically weakened. Psi pool was untouched.

>>3928376
>>3928371
Makes more sense, and askinh Haven too

>>3928376
that indicates it's powered by life and just controlled by Psi?
maybe try life-related colours after we know what the directions mean, in case it drains us again.

>>3928376
+1

>>3928376
Regarding meaning of colors in Haven’s culture, it is a good question. Colors can have several different meanings based on context. Haven thinks that these are the more helpful definitions in this case:

>red: symbolically most commonly connected with blood, fire and aggression as well as passion, love, courage and many others. She suspects that in this case the meaning is “blood” as in “bloodletting” because you powered it and it drained life from you and everything nearby

>green: color of nature, plants, renewal and healing beyond many other things. However, at the same time due to some quirk in Haven’s culture it is associated both with infectious diseases and with treatment for them. Her guess is that this is the most likely healing option if your theory is correct.

>purplish blue: a particular shade that elves associate with specifically their royalty and magic, which is not surprising once you remember the whole bloodline thing. Haven claims that this pigment is extracted from some kind of a clam that can be found rarely at the eastern Ceno shore and it is both rare and difficult to extract which makes it very expensive. She has no idea what that gem could possibly do

>>3928436
Ok, lets. Continue with the plan to use the power forward.

Usd green to try and heal a withered plant and then the red to drain the same plant.

Finally we can test the blue on us? I'm curious

But this plan seems optimum>>3928376

>>3928436
Alright, I'm back and reading through your choices once again. Let's see here... basically you want to test all the options on trees first. That's reasonable, writing

>>3928513
The discomfort that you feel becomes irrelevant in comparison to the significance of the discovery. All you need to do now is to figure out the control specifics. But of course, you won’t test in on yourself at first. Instead you approach the withered tree, point your bracelet in its direction and mentally push forward the knob in the green gem. You sense that the energy is being slowly leaked from the battery but the tree itself doesn’t seem to be getting better. You break off a branch of this tree and to your astonishment it is completely dead, dry and crumbles relatively easily. Maybe this only works on things that are not as thoroughly dead. With a telekinetic effort you rip off a branch from a healthy tree and use the green gem again with the psi knob pushed away from you. The bracelet undergoes heavy battery drain but the branch rapidly regrows, even if the result is a bit differently shaped.

“So, the green is “healing” then, which means…” you mumble as you push the knob in the green gem towards you. The sensation is warm, calming and nice. Within several minutes your frame returns to normal and even your hair color is restored to the nice shade of red. However, it seems that the process was pretty inefficient. The energy that was taken from your body and all the plant life around you was enough only to restore you after which the bracelet completely ran out of power and the mental knobs disappeared.

Now that you know how the system works, you dump a controlled amount of energy into the bracelet sufficient to restore it to operation, after which you push the red knob forward and point it at a patch of grass. The plant life greys and withers within moments as if you were firing a death beam in a cone in front of your hand. The range for this “life energy drain” thing is around 240-250 meters which is pretty impressive. At that range the area of effect is larger, but the “quality” of drain drops and you start seeing half withered or even unharmed plants.

>>3928708
You move to a new location and decide to test pressing on the green and red knob. Pressing green knob drains your energy like crazy but you can see the plants around you experiencing a massive boost in growth to the point that you can see the result with bare eyes. The grass that was only knee high within minutes was reaching up to your waist in about 20 meters around you. Pressing the red knob causes everything around you to wither but once the bracelet is at sufficient power it no longer drains your body. To drain your body, you need to pull the red knob towards you. In that process about a fifth of energy is lost if we compare green and red effects. Damaging your body would give you 4/5 of what you’d need to restore it with the green gem.

So, the psi knob’s purpose is to direct the effect. Pulling it towards you causes the gauntlet to target you, pushing it forward causes it to target a cone in front of you and pressing the knob causes an effect to manifest within a certain radius from you. The red gem seems to damage biological creatures and somehow generates energy out of that while green gem appears to heal at expense of energy. Sounds intuitive in hindsight, but what does the purplish-blue gem do?

You press forward with the blue gem and… nothing happens. After some investigation it looks like this gem spends its battery to produce a stream of psi energy in front of the gauntlet which does… nothing. You can feel it only if you deplete the region enough to feel the slight spike of potential in the psi field. Well, that’s helpful. You wonder what it is used for. Maybe you could transfer energy to other people or use it for enchantment of the objects, but there is no way to tell right now. Pressing the blue knob dumps energy in the nearby volume and pulling it back towards you recharges your own energy pool from the bracelet’s supply which can work as an external battery.

File: Roman paved roads.png (150 KB, 555x245)

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>>3928724
With some trial and error, you manage to fill up the artifact to the maximum. It seems that it has a “release valve” of sorts that prevents energy overload. The whole bracelet can hold a whopping eighth of your entire energy reserve. It also turns out that the bracelet can’t drain you dry. It only damages the external layers of your body and stops being unable to access below your “armor belt”, which suggests that you might be shielded from biosculpting on the inside but not on the surface. Combining this information, you roughly estimate the capacity of the bracelet: it can store two “restorations” of you from dried up state to full and draining you once to that level gives the artifact around 40% charge. The rate of your own energy regeneration is overwhelming in comparison to the gains from draining plant life to the point that it is easier for you to manually fill it up. It might be different for monsters or animals and humans, but you don’t want to endanger lives of other people to test that and you don’t want to partake in animal cruelty. The draining sensation is very painful and you could consider it as a form of torture. You don’t want to apply that carelessly. With conflicting feelings, you take off the gauntlet for the day. Haven tries it on, confirms that she feels the same thing and takes it off since it scares her a little.

The other days end up being somewhat monotonous. You hang out with friends, help Rheia with studying and do a lot more masonry. In the end, you don’t even realize that you finally reached March 27th and the construction of the Labyrinth gate is finally finished. Now you only need to link it up to Farsalos with a road. And if you are building roads, you might as well see if you can link up more places…

Connections:
>Farsalos- Labyrinth Gate
>Farsalos- North- Eastern Outpost
>Farsalos- Mirangi (currently has a dirt road)

Types of roads:
>Dirt road (negligible): with telekinesis it would take several hours to clear out and compress the dirt throughout the entire length of the road. Such roads would turn into mush with rain
>Gravel road (1 day/connection): simple road covered in a layer of gravel. Cheap and doesn't turn into mush with rain as easily. Gravel gets knocked out with time causing it to decay quickly
>Paved road (3 days/connection): proper road paved similarly to ancient Roman analogues. Quick to traverse and so resilient that it would still probably be here for a few centuries

>>3928740

>Farsalos- Mirangi (currently has a dirt road)

Dirt for everything amd paved to Mirangi
Maybe thid wsy we can get more people to men the labyrinth and the northen outpost

Lets try to give Haven some energy with the blue stone(if she agrees of course) tell her we sensed that she has psy afinity and would like to see with her what she could accomplish with a little more energy reserve.
Cue to a montage of use holding her and teaching how to channel things lol

>>3928759
I agree with this
Mirangi-Farsalos is the only road beeing used

but use gravel to the northen settlement and the Labyrinth

the gravel roads won't suffer much with the elements for now since there is no one using it, but as traffic increases we should improve it

>>3928759
I don't think that it is a good idea. You know that it is possible to overload glow quartz. What if you can overload a human? She probably can't judge how much to drain from the battery so you might want to ask first before attempting this. Someone like Nike' or Elspeth

>>3928771
Hoçd off on the ezperiment then, but do tell her that the fact that she fest the things on the artifact confirms our theory thag she is at least a little bit attuned to psy energy

>>3928766
+1

>>3928759
>>3928766
>>3928805
Mirangi- Farsalos paved, the rest is gravel. Writing.

File: Road construction.png (2.76 MB, 1440x1284)

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>>3928848
Thinking about the roads again, the busiest connection is the Farsalos- Mirangi road. It is used for trade and travel while the other roads are going to be underused for a while. The most used road should be paved by all the standards with multiple layers and even a small hump to direct rainwater to the sides so that it doesn’t collect. Better road means faster and more convenient travel which should encourage trade and emigration, both of which are required for the continual development of Farsalos.

You can just make the two other roads completely from dirt, but that would turn into a lot of mud during the rains which would slow down travel beyond just being annoying. A better option would be gravel roads. They decay from intense use, but when it is just a dozen miners using them day by day they should last for a while and you can always just upgrade them once the need arises.

It takes you around two days to complete the gravel roads which just required some large-scale telekinesis for dirt compressing and basalt pulverization into gravel. The paved road, however, promises to be its own beast. It is an entire large-scale engineering project. A 6-meter wide road with cast concrete drainage ditches, curbs, milestones and four layers of materials. Essentially you need just over half meter-deep ditch along with some forest clearing and lots of basalt extraction. Oh boy…

All in all, it takes you something like three whole days to construct this beast all the way from Farsalos south gate to the tree line around Mirangi. You could have gone all the way to the town, but you don’t want to show off your amazing powers to random farmers in the area. Instead you escort village chief along with you and a couple of guards to negotiate continuation of the road. You’d have to pay a hefty sum of money, but the last half a kilometer would be finished by the Mirangi workers within the next… month to month and a half. You are slightly miffed with timeframes, but to be fair these people can’t juggle literal tons of stone with telekinesis and Mirangi has a minor manpower shortage. Just in case a couple militia members were designated to monitor the construction as well as to take a break from the village life in the bigger town.

>>3929028
When you return to your home, you find a piece of mail in your mailbox. Finally, you almost thought that this thing didn’t work. The message is from Signy. It looks like the discussions are almost done among the former slaves and about a third wants to stay in our territory completely. Some specifically would stay if you built a separate settlement but that’s not a problem. The remaining group would decide based on whether their settlement is still around. Some would stay but they want to take their families along while some would stay if they don’t have the home to return to. About a quarter want to leave no matter what. Apparently, it is not due to hard feelings, their culture just strongly encourages living in a dwelling of family’s own construction. You don’t really get it, but some of these people are very serious about that. They can stay in someone else’s dwelling but not settle in. A good part of these people is also very angry with the “slavers” and some want to return back specifically to lend their strength for fighting that tribe while Farsalos has nothing to fear from the slavers. In any case, looks like the decisions mostly depend on scouting out that deep forest settlement…

>Go find Signy and tell her that you’ll take care of scouting within the next couple of days
>Find Mina and direct her to scout out the settlement for you
>Assemble and gear up a group of tribals to scout out the place themselves
>Hire monster hunters to scout out the settlement
>Inform the group leaders that they should wait for you to construct a dock and a boat or two to transfer them faster
>Other ideas?

____________________________________________________
And on this note we have to wrap up this week’s thread. I can’t fight the tranquilizers anymore. Please vote on this thing, we’ll start the next thread based on these results. Also feel free to discuss, ask questions and make suggestions. I hope you’ve enjoyed, and I’ll see you next time.

>>3929030
thank you for running and i hope you get better fast
till next week

>>3929030

>Find Mina and direct her to scout out the settlement for you
While we
>construct a dock and a boat or two to transfer them faster

This will already serve as a conection for trade and visits between our people. Make sure to invote them to the next festival is the trip os safe

>>3929030
>>3929059
This sounds good. Thanks for the run.

>>3929059
>>3929030
ok, but tell her to only verify that the settlement still exists and is on the stream
since they all spoke different languages trying to tell them their people are still alive is mute, the ones that want to leave can explain it on their own

>>3930461
Yeah, and to keep an eye out for the slavers and how much danger can they pose

>>3929030
Oh yeah, I forgot, this week we are running like the last week because I’m still in the hospital. If tomorrow I won’t be able to pull a full run we would supplement with Sunday.

>>3936645
Hey guys, sorry I'll have to postpone the start of the thread for a couple hours. Something just came up

>>3937751
We're live. Sorry for the extremely late start. I'll compensate with extra run time tomorrow: >>3937842

>>3937850
Just archived this thread