Oh, getting any feedback is great, thanks!
Just so I can mark it to get fixed, is this the choice you’re referring to?
Summary
*choice
#I will destroy the tree and its roots with dark magic. I'll have to endure the pressure so as not to harm the environment around me. @{(statsshown) [Mettle] |}
You announce your intentions, warning the others to stay back. "Be careful," Tokara murmurs before retreating with the rest. You're not sure if ${lea_they}${lea_re} concerned for you or the safety of the others.
You take a deep breath and lean forward, pressing both palms against the trunk of the tree, bracing for the wave of dark magic before it pours over you. Once the wave crests, you exhale, pouring your corruption into the tree with focused force.
*set corruption %-20
*set treedestroyed 2
*if mettle >= 60
The magic rushes through you, out of you, flooding the tree down to its roots. It's not often you find yourself with both the will and opportunity to unleash such an assault, but you've spent your life honing your control over yourself and your powers—you're able to keep the attack focused and contained.
*gosub treepurge
*set ushinegasympathy %+20
*set islandvitality %+20
*goto treegone
*elseif mettle >= 40
It is hard at first, wrangling the magic. Letting this much out at once is almost painful. A curse of destruction wiggles out of your control, lashing into the ground and leaving deep cuts. But you exert your control over the other stored-up curses, bending them to your will.
*gosub treepurge
*comment we don't adjust stats up or done. a middle success.
*goto treegone
*else
The moment you let go, you feel it—a dam somewhere collapsing within you, releasing all that dark magic pent up inside you in a flood. But you're not used to purging this much corruption this quickly. The metaphorical reins rip free from your hands, and the dark magic—as it is wont to do—runs wild.
"Get back!" you cry out, but luckily, it is not the people the magic goes for. The grass around the tree withers and dies. Your corruption spreads like a shadow along the root system, webbing out from the central point—the tree—and sapping the life from any green life in its path.
With an enormous effort, you manage to bring the corruption back under your control—though not before the orchard has suffered extensive damage, damage that will not be healed anytime soon.
*gosub treepurge
*set ushinegasympathy %-20
*set islandvitality %-20
*goto treegone
#I will impress the crew and islanders with my strength and determination by cutting the tree down myself. @{(statsshown) [Strength] |}
There is no reason to waste your dark magic on a matter you can handle by mundane means.
"An axe!" you cry. "Bring me an axe!"
The governor's eyebrows lift at the order, but ${lea_they} trot${lea_s} away without argument. $!{lea_they} return${lea_s} a few moments later with a felling axe that boasts a generously broad blade, its edge gleaming bright and sharp.
"Get back!" you shout to the crowd. Waving the others a safe distance away, you position yourself to the side of the tree and swing, aiming for the back of the trunk to ensure the tree will fall away from the crowd.
*set treedestroyed 2
*if strength >= 60
Years of hard travel and long hours of strength training pay off—the islanders and crew members alike watch in awe as you pit steel against wood again and again, without hesitation or fear. You carve a savage path through the trunk one stroke at a time until, at last, the tilting tree falls with a disturbingly human groan.
Its thundering collapse is met with stunned silence. Several moments pass before anyone dares to speak.
*set islandertrust %+20
*set crewtrust %+20
*goto treegone
*elseif strength >= 40
Your muscles are lean, but the tree is hard. Each bite of the axe sinks deep into the bark, but you find yourself growing tired.
"Come on!" shouts Tom Caine. "You can do it!"
"I don't think ${pc_they} can," says a silen you don't know.
Irked, you lift the axe again, fighting against exhaustion.
At last, the tree begins to wobble. You have no energy for the final push.
"You there!" you say, pointing to a strong-looking were-bear in a white tunic. "Give it a shove!"
The were-bear nods and steps forward, heaving a shoulder into the tree. Soon, the whole thing falls.
*goto treegone
*else
You start strong, but your strength peters out quickly. As it turns out, it takes a great deal of effort to fell a tree. Mal comes to your aid not for the first time today, slipping the axe from your weakening grip without warning and guiding you—with polite but unrelenting force—out of the way before taking it upon himself to finish what you've started.
Both the islanders and the crew look at you with a mixture of pity and contempt. At least Mal seems satisfied with ${mal_their} work; each swing of the axe widens the subtle, brutal smile stretching across ${mal_their} lips.
At last, the tree tilts and, with a disturbingly human groan, falls. Its thundering collapse is met with stunned silence. Several moments pass before anyone dares to speak.
*set islandertrust %-20
*set crewtrust %-20
*goto treegone
#I will judge the crowd's emotions and try to persuade them to leave the tree alone for the time being. @{(statsshown) [Emotional Intelligence] |}
"People of Ushinega! We should not destroy this tree today," you say, focusing on a clump of wilderfolk who appear less than enthusiastic about the tree. You watch their faces carefully for their reactions as you attempt to convince them to follow your lead.
"We do not know," you say, going on, "what will happen if this tree is destroyed. All we do know is that it is a clue as to what is happening to this island. Leave it be for now!"
*if emointel >= 60
Luckily, they seem willing to listen to you for now—though for how long that will last is hard to say. Their acquiescence is grudging at best.
"We should destroy it," Mal mutters in a low voice. But you're wary of attacking blindly, and there is more—much more—to this tree than meets the eye.
"Not yet. I need to know more," you explain. "Acting rashly could do more harm than good."
"What more d'ye need to know?" demands one of the townsfolk, overhearing your exchange. "If it's the tree what's doing this to us, then let's chop it down and be done with it!" A chorus of hurrahs follows.
"Are you the experts here, or is $!{firstname}?" Governor Tokara demands, hands on ${lea_their} hips. "If {pc_they} @{pc_singular says|say} to wait, we wait. Or would you risk making the situation worse simply for the sake of your impatience?"
The crowd seems disgruntled, but the fight has gone out of them for now. "Don't make us wait too long, curse-eater," you hear one of them mumble as they disperse.
*set treedestroyed 1
*set freelora %+20
*set ushinegasympathy %+20
*goto refugeeask
*elseif emointel >= 40
By the time you're finished speaking, the mob is in turmoil. Some lean towards your side, while others lean towards attacking the tree.
"Stand aside!" shouts a woman, striding forward. "We're cutting it down!" An axe is passed along from the back of the crowd to her.
"No!" you say. "I know you're angry. But we're not doing this. Not today. Mob rule solves nothing. This tree will stand."
The woman is in front of you now, holding the axe. You are both breathing heavily. She turns and looks at the crowd; some faces are on her side, but others glower at her. She drops the axe, which another person picks up and hands back.
"Fine," she says. "For now. But let's see how you act when your friends aren't around."
Then she turns and walks away.
*set treedestroyed 1
*set freelora %+20
*set islandertrust %-10
*set crewtrust %-10
*goto refugeeask
*else
By the time you're done speaking, one thing is clear—the mob's patience has finally run out. "We finally got answers, and you wanna wait?" demands the woman leading the mob. "Stand aside!" You can't help but wonder what she intends to do—attack the tree with her bare hands?—until a man at the back of the group comes forward, an axe in hand.
"No!" you shout, and try to fight against the tide, but there are too many people in the way now. The crowd overwhelms you while the man plants his feet before the tree and draws the axe back for the first swing. "You can't just—"
But he can, and he does. The axe finds its mark with a heavy, decisive thud, once, twice, again and again. Others join in—nobody else has an axe, but those with sharp blades help slice at the wound while those with blunt weapons get in what hits they can—for themselves perhaps, or maybe to help the tree fall faster. It's a chaotic and messy affair; Mal watches with grim approval, while Tokara stares in blank shock, seeming unable or unwilling to speak up one way or the other.
It's all morbidly quick, or perhaps time just flows differently in moments like this. Before long, the tree splits with a sickening crack and falls with a great crash of broken branches and crushed leaves.
*set treedestroyed 3
*set crewtrust %-20
*set islandertrust %-20
*goto refugeeask
Did you mean that there’s a bug in the code that makes success impossible, or that your character had a skill/ability combination that didn’t have a good option here? If it’s the first one, I’ll track down the bug and work on it. If it’s the second, I’d be happy to add 1 or 2 other options that fit the build that you had.
Or if it’s another choice, just let me know!
I changed the “en’t”. I think originally the previous author was writing the character’s voice in dialect, but a couple of people have pointed it out, so I’ll change it just to aid in understanding. This is exactly why I like hearing from players!
I’m still reading! Just at a glacial pace.