Sudanna

Bad news. I've been moved to third shift, and while otherwise this is a good thing, it means I can't be online past about 10 PM EST except for on Fridays/Saturdays. I can still make the session on Wednesday, but I'd have to leave early.

she is heavily modified by canisters.

It's not any harder to balance for a six-PC party than a four-PC one. There won't be six because there hasn't been six in any Avernum game.

That won't break anything. Continue with your other quests as normal - you won't be able to complete some of the ones in your journal now, but you can still finish the game just fine.

The Second Era of the Age of the Sculptor Power rolls for Round 7. Excalibur: 6 + 4 + 0 + 3 = 13 Sylae: 1 + 2 + 3 + 1 = 1 Tridash: 3 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 8 Nalyd: 5 + 6 + 0 + 3 = 14

Thank you very much for the resources and the cleaning up, Sy! It's really too bad about the ponies. However, the same thing happened again. A "city" in this game is a specific mechanic, and you don't get the first city for free. The cute little plant dude I made doesn't signify a city or colony, it's just the general area where the Lotivinea live. I'll deduct the cost of a Command Race power from this turns' points.

Because the presence of specific directions determines how much you probably need to explore to complete or even find the main quest. If you start a game for the first time in Avernum (or Exile, you fossils), and you say to yourself "Eh, sidequests are lame, I'll focus do the main quest.", you're going to have to do a fair bit of exploring to even find a main quest, let alone complete it, and probably end up doing a lot more side quests along the way. That there are three entirely separate victory conditions to complete only shows this more - there is not much specific direction towards any one of them, and finding that direction is a part of the game necessary to completing it.

Xekhemthys [turn 6] Summary Power Available: 9 Actions taken: Synthesis - [Create Race, 6 cost] Concentration - [Corrupt Area, 2 cost] Power Remaining: 1 Running Bonus: +3 Actions Synthesis Xekhemthys brought the first life to this world, and it is a life that her fellow gods have taken to well. The titanic trees of the jungle are cousin to the shrubs of the desert and the grasses of the savannah and the dry pines of the mountains. Plants life spreads everywhere on this world, even beneath the sea. There is no reason, Xekhemthys says, for it to not spread further still. The goddess commands her green children to come together as one, and from the seafloor to the mountains, they respond. Winds carry the seeds of every plant to Xekhemthys, and she binds them all into one. "This child," she says "Will be every child." And casts the singular seed into the air, to land among the living islands. It sprouts, one day, and what comes forth is not a plant but a being. The first of the Lotivinea. It is a creature of twisting vines and taut, rolled leaves, of beautiful flowers and gnarled wood. A melange of plants, a golem made of green life. Tall and strong, it stretches its legs, unfurls its tendrils, and looks out upon its home. (The Lotivinea are plant people. About nine feet tall, sturdy, generally bipedal, genderless, slow to grow and slow to reproduce. They're mostly made of coiled vines, with a few flowers around the head and neck. However, they are physically very diverse. Many have bark or wood or needles or Venus flytrap-esque parts of their bodies, or anything else you might find on a plant. Additionally, the specific arrangement of a Lotivinea body is almost always unique. They can see and speak through orifices on their heads, but generally do not have sharply delineated organs. They can survive on nothing but sunlight and water, but if being especially active, they need to eat things or risk going dormant for a long time. By trapping or expelling air, they can control their buoyancy, and are just as at home beneath the water as above it. They are not very social, but aren't solitary either. Most are part of tribes or other groups based around which floating island they live on. They live seemingly indefinitely, but take a very long time to mature, have very vulnerable young, and their seeds only rarely sprout.) Concentration Xekhemthys has meditated too long in the Black Abbey, with her attention on her new child. She strays too close to this reality, and it warps to suit her nature even more. Nothing lives on this mesa now, and visitors cannot stay long. The air is always still and thin, the sun always dim, and those that enter its black heart seldom emerge sane. (Black Abbey now at -2 alignment)

Sylae's prolly busy, but I have no real excuse. Been meaning to make a post for a while and just not gotten around to it. Doing one nooooow.

Yes, sorry if that wasn't clear - the city can stay.

Excalibur, a race's first city isn't free. It requires the use of a Command Race power like any other. You do have to place your race's homeland in a specific spot, but not with a city. However, Tridash has volunteered to donate you the points that would be necessary to make a city come his turn, so it's not a big deal. (For the record, and it's not like this is stated anywhere in these rules and we don't have to do it if nobody else wants to, but in my first game a race's homeland was indicated by a little pixel art icon like here or here.)

Alternatively, remain listless and dead inside, but lie about it.

The First Era of the Age of the Sculptor Czeda is remade. The blank canvas is now a world of vivid colors, granted by the power of its divine tetrarchy. It is the home to beauty and terror, life and stark desolation, but no corner of it is empty. An age has ended, but the power of the gods is far from spent. There are greater dimensions to a world than what has yet been realized, new avenues of creation that will now come to the fore. It is the Age of the Sculptor on Czeda, and the world is soon to have new masters. Power rolls for Round 6. Excalibur: 5 + 4 + 1 + 3 = 13 Sylae: 4 + 4 + 18 + 0 = 26 Tridash: 6 + 4 + 0 + 3 = 13 Nalyd: 4 + 2 + 0 + 3 = 9

Not exactly.

Xekhemthys [turn 5] Summary Power Available: 13 Actions taken: Roughening - [shape Land, 3 cost] Spores - [shape Climatex2, 4 cost] Hunger - [Corrupt Areax2, 6 cost] Power Remaining: 0 Running Bonus: +3 Actions Roughening Xekhemthys travels to the last dead place on this world. As her will was the first to touch it, her will paints in its last empty corner. The land clenches in on itself, and hills and cliffs and rivers rise from nothing. Spores The mushrooms and molds that feed from death and rot interest Xekhemthys. Theirs is a way different from the other plants on this world. They deserve a place of their own. Xekhemthys blesses their spores, and gives them one. They bloom into a chaotic new jungle. Hunger The fungal bloom is always hungry. and always trying to spread. It produces spores in abundance, and grows into everything it can. The river, the fur of animals, and even living flesh. Unless carefully guarded against, the fungus consumes everything in this land.

Welp, 3/4 say advance, so we advance. Next turn will begin the second age.

As this is the fifth turn of the first age, it's time to vote on whether we should advance to age 2 or not. I, for one, vote YES.

The Fifth Era of the Age of the Painter Power rolls for Round 5. Excalibur: 6 + 4 + 0 + 3 = 13 Sylae: 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 = 18 Tridash: 3 + 5 + 1 + 3 = 12 Nalyd: 3 + 3 + 4 + 3 = 13

Xekhemthys [turn 4] Summary Power Available: 17 Actions taken: Easy Seasons - [shape Climate, 2 cost] Roughening - [shape Landx2, 6 cost] Excision - [Corrupt Area, 3 cost] Partnership - [shape Climate, 2 cost] Power Remaining: 4 Running Bonus: +3 Actions Easy Seasons Xekhemthys watches and waits, allowing her companions on this world to make what they will of her offering. The crescent island is filled with tall grasses and warm winds, reflecting her peace. It will be an accommodating land in ages to come. Roughening To her pleasure, her fellow gods accept her symbol, and make the mesas into their homes. Xekhemthys absentmindedly mounds the earth around her as she watches them work, transforming plains into rolling hills. Excision Xekhemthys waits until the last to take her place among the mesas. Her seat in this world will be a reminder of her beginnings, a place of void. She drains the place of color and life, making an emptiness where none can walk easy. It is a place of grim stillness, and at its heart, the light of neither sun nor star can reach. She comes here to meditate and find peace in the emptiness. Partnership But it is not yet time for that. The words of the Harmony, faintly heard through the ether, reach her ears, and their gift is well appreciated. In turn, Xekhemthys chooses to please them - a great sheet of ice, as the Harmony seem to favor, spreads over the last untouched continent, edging up to the banks of its inland sea.

The Fourth Era of the Age of the Painter Power rolls for Round 4. Excalibur: 6 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 11 Sylae: 3 + 5 + 1 + 3 = 12 Tridash: 4 + 6 + 4 + 3 = 17 Nalyd: 6 + 3 + 5 + 3 = 17

Yep. Nothing for me here.

Xekhemthys [turn 3] Summary Power Available: 10 Actions taken: Bridge - [shape Climate, 2 cost] Four Siblings - [shape Land, 3 cost] Power Remaining: 5 Running Bonus: +3 Actions Bridge Xekhemthys steps across the shallow sea between her jungle and the crescent island. The jungle is loathe to see its mistress go, and its essence clings around her ankles. Great wandering islands of living plants, some of them miles wide, now dot the sea. Four Siblings There are four gods on this world, that have chosen it as their home. They share the bonds of lordship and creation, and must share this world as well. Though they have not spoken, Xekhemthys raises four desert mesas in their names and hers, as a gesture of respect.

The Third Era of the Age of the Painter Power rolls for Round 3. Excalibur: 4 + 6 + 1 + 2 = 13 Sylae: 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 7 Tridash: 6 + 6 + 2 + 2 = 16 Nalyd: 1 + 6 + 1 + 2 = 10

Xekhemthys [turn 2] Summary Power Available: 6 Actions taken: Travel - [shape Climate, 2 cost] Hidden Places - [shape Land, 3 cost] Power Remaining: 1 Running Bonus: +2 Actions Travel Xekhemthys, rested and calm, rises from the lake, and walks the world that will be her new home. The jungles woven from her will please her; More will rise around her as she wanders. Hidden Places Xekhemthys has affinities for many things, but first among these are the stars and the void. The hidden depths of space were her first home, and the lands raised to her pleasure possess hidden depths as well. This jungle is one of many sudden cliffs and treacherous ravines, of shaded overhangs and secret caves, and many hidden lakes. Creatures beautiful and deadly stalk this rough land, and Xekhemthys keeps their secrets.

The Second Era of the Age of the Painter Power rolls for Round 2, Bold number is the grand total, including running bonus and saved points. Excalibur: 5 + 6 + 1 = 12 Sylae: 1 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 7 Tridash: 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5 Nalyd: 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 6