Annotated 29-15
Oh, Magda… that’s why you’re noble.
We weren’t sure how obvious to be in panel 4: other versions had Fr’Nj saying “The grass…” or just gasping silently. Her druidic powers are a bit undefined, so we wanted to make it clear it was her plant-empathy that signaled her to the Rebel army’s approach, not some more general cosmic awareness. Because if it were the latter, that would again beg the question of why she wasn’t using it all the time.
Original draft had Fr’Nj foster tree growth to reinforce the tower wall, but again, that was too much: until she levels up, she’ll only be using that power to deal with immediate, urgent danger. We were pretty clear from the first that she should get her contribution in early because, as a pacifist, she wouldn’t be participating in the actual fight itself. Though as you’ll see, we changed our position on that a bit in Chapter 30.
I missed the first time how the fields themselves are “passing through life without glory, their suffering heard only by a privileged few.”
Sometimes, though you may wish to be a pacifist, the world may push you to pack-a-fist.
I wish that this would also work the other way round, to calm down some of those people who will reflexively reduce any problem to just finding out *who* to attack.
That’s where decorum and etiquette were supposed to come in.
Except the people who wrote those ideas down were bad at reasoning and really liked making other people follow rules. By force and coercion.
It must really suck to be a druid. Imagine the screams at harvest time.
With wheat I’d imagine it goes pretty quick – the cut of the scythe like an executioner’s axe.
Apple trees though, forget it. People coming by and just yanking your ‘nads off, one by one… eesh
Technically, the flowers are the ‘nads. The fruit contains the seeds, which are the babies.
Which would make it even more horrific, were it not for the fact that fruits like apples are *meant* to be eaten, to help spread the seeds around.
I’d imagine that the trees would actually enjoy it though. They evolve to make the fruits delicious so the birds will come eat them (and disperse the seeds).
Now I’m imagining druids constantly hearing the “ohhh yesssss” moans of perverted trees. Yeah, probably sucks to be a druid lol.
You are aware that the “head” of the wheat doesn’t actually contain its brain, right? It’s more like the sex organs. The stroke may be quick, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead after.
Saint Valentine’s and Mother’s Day and such must straight up need meds.
I have a feeling that the sense can be turned off a bit in cases like that.
Indeed. However, I think the relationship between most druids (or at least Arkerran ones) and plants is different than one might expect. The plants seem to know just when to and not to call/send for help, or the druidic magic will censor and/or filter calls. Otherwise druids would go insane/become constantly irritated pretty quick.
The Cannibal Rector: “You still wake up sometimes, don’t you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the plants.”
Fr’Nj: “Yes.
“Grinching”, eh? Was this a nod to the fact that a number of people had commented on Goblaurence’s resemblance to a certain green fellow?
I kind of wish the druid I currently play in D&D had the ability to hear the enemy approach through plants. That gives me an idea for a new spell to research!
That could be covered by https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/commune-with-nature/