Thinking about this a bit more, and clarifying my Quest:

Ollie has determined the Perpetual Eating Machine of Ever-Hungry Sizzerack can only be defeated by a breed of ants or termites that lives far underground. The demon, or whatsit, possessing the relentlessly (but slow) forest-mowing contraption has protected itself against anything other than these supposedly humble insects. He suspects that pouring part of a colony down its magical-mechanical gullet might let them chew up the insides enough to break it. Unfortunately, any overland critter - including ants and termites - have been warded against.

This is why he needs to go into the dungeon worlds.

So… as far as motif, and the fact that we've established that he speaks Insect, maybe the Cosmogonies and Social Philosophies that interest him (as a motif) are related to colonies, types of non-verbal communication, contrasts with the kinds of communiques of other types of creatures. This can get into metaphysics, too, I suppose.

Something along those lines.

I do like him being into ointments and tinctures and incenses and chiropracty and massage in a gnome-New Agey way, though.

HMtW pg 24:

"You should never feel locked into the choices you make about your adventurer. You may change a motif during the City Phase if you and the GM feel it’s appropriate."

Weird Druid is working great, but Roots-and-Vine Mancer seems to do the same thing. And Bird's Nest Surgeon sorta just describes how Ollie treats wounds (shambolic and dusty jury-rigs).

I'm okay if Roots-and-Vines is sort of more environmental ecology, maybe used to suss out water flows or exposure to moisture, how fungus or algae is growing in piles and ponds, while Weird Druid is more about the creatures themselves, maybe like a flora/fauna thing.

But could I swap out Bird's Nest Surgeon to be a bit different? Two ideas:

1. New Agey reiki massage, chiropracty, inner chakras, advice on tinctures and holistic medicines, but in a gnomic way? So instead of being Surgery related (as per the skill) it's more about lore oriented around compounds or substances and their uses as well as weirdo muscle massages or advice on sleeping posture.

2. Or, cosmogonies and zen like meditation and philosophies of nature vs. civilization and such, but in a weirdo gnomic way.

Something along those lines, one or the other?

PEND / MOLE / SEND / TOME

SEND / MOTE / LEND / MOPE

MEND / DOTE / LENS / MOPE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sator_Square

Those are palindromic, which doesn't seem possible here with the three single letters. I agree that words on the columns and rows are the best bet.

POEM-MOPE
STOP-POST
TONE-NOTE
OPEN-NOPE
SNOT-TONS
LOST-SLOT
NODE-DONE
DOME-MODE
DOOM-MOOD
TOOL-LOOT
POOL-LOOP
SLED
OMEN
MOST
LEST
MEND
MELD
TOME
MOST
NEED
DEED
SEED
PEEL
LOOM
SOON

First off, here's the puzzle for anyone who doesn't remember. There's a change I'm misunderstanding something, too, since I wasn't at the session where it was discovered, in which case please let me know.

The puzzle is a grid of 4x4 slots surrounded by 16 letters. My guess is that if we can find a setup where every row and column spells a word we can use that to solve the puzzle and profit in some unclear manner.

The letters are: DDEEEELMMNNOOPST

My thoughts on this puzzle are…

• Vowels are probably the key to cutting down the possibility space here. There are only Es and Os.
• Most of the vowels are probably in the center, because that's how words tend to work.
• Least one word must start and one must end with a vowel in each configuration (rows & columns). That's because if no rows have a word that starts with a vowel, the first column will contain no vowels.
• We have 6 vowels and 4 words per configuration, so probably 2 of the words have a single vowel and 2 have two vowels.
• Os and Es are both friendly to double-use (DOOM, PEEL), but given the above two facts I sort of feel like if we have a word like that the other word might need to have the two vowels on the outside?
• I have no idea if diagonals matter. Probably not, is my guess
• I think that rows and columns might be interchangeable? Like, if we set four words as rows and they work together to make all four columns be words, then they'd also work so that if we made them columns they'd just make the rows be words, right? Am I visualizing this correctly?

To make this a little less daunting, I've been trying to make rows of 4 words that use up all available letters. If we can do that we can move them around in order and see if there's any configuration where they all magically align to make the columns all say something. I tried it with the following words but didn't find anything:

STOP
MELD
NEED
OMEN

Just want to check in on the specifics of Ollie's quest. A personal quest isn't something you have in the background while you go dungeoneering for cash and glory. It has to be something that can only be accomplished by going into the Underworld, which is a sucky place that no one enters voluntarily. Is the intent that these "humble" ants/termites only exist in the Underworld? Is there some other element of the plan that absolutely needs something from the Underworld to execute? Etc.

(Ollie and Jack can expect to find some common ground over their personal quests, even if the details differ.)

Gnome, Path of Cups
Swords 2, Pentacles 3, Cups 4, Wands 1
Trained Talents: Weird, Wise, Ancient; Beast Master

Motif 1: Weird Druid
As a bright-eyed yet wizened youth, Ollie was intended to join as an apprentice wizard to the Grand Local Blert, magistrates who oversee the mystic flows and happenings in the Caerbannog region of the vast elfin territories beyond the Holderlin Mountains. Not only did he have no aptitude for magic, it kind of made him nauseous, and he decamped deep in the forests in shame.

Motif 2: Bird's-Nest Surgeon
To make a living, Ollie worked with traveling merchant groups as a go-between, runner and courier, and scout against bandits, but only had a passable business sense and disliked what he considered the manipulatons of jacking prices up for profit. Instead he discovered a budding ability to deliver order from mess in terms of repairing, treating, curing, healing.

Quest: Destroy the Perpetual Eating Machine of Ever-Hungry Sizzerack
The vast forest lands of Ollie's voluntary charge have been plagued by an ancient and supposedly possessed threshing machine crunching through the dense growth on its green-juiced tracks, blades and pistons flying, leaving empty swaths in long, senseless patterns. Studying its path, Ollie has determined it will reach the nearest elfin village in 333 years — or 333 days, it's unclear — and the only way to destroy it is to reach for the supposedly humble. This would be a hive of Burgundy-Sheen Bounding Inferno Ants — or they're actually termites, also not actually clear. These would be poured into the infernal steam machinery and ostensibly chew them to bits.

Motif 3: Root and Vine Mancer
In his wild and wooly ways, Ollie is an expert at reading, understanding, and interpreting the pulses of organic life in an almost psychometric way. While he doesn't understand magic, he understands the real, which includes the minds and patterns of animals, insects, the thirst of tubers for rain.

Pimento
Ollie's familiar is a red-crested woodpecker named Pimento, who follows commands and is helping Ollie learn various aspects of surgery (stitching wounds with his beak, for example), and hopefully things like picking locks on wooden doors (or just removing them).

Ollie's Appearance
An unattractive heap of flesh and mushy nose, redcap crushed over his eyes, Ollie wears what seems to be a heap of cloaks with twigs sticking out and dried leaves tumbling out with every move. In these depths Pimento emerges alongside other surprises, much like a Robe of Useful Items.

Ollie's Goals
In addition to solving the whole Perpetual Machine problem, Ollie wants to learn Alchemy and Chirugery better. Also has a interest in fine furniture, although their state isn't quite important. (He likes to feed Pimento rare and unusual types of food, and the grubs that might be in them.)

Agree this can still work in the "Rival" paradigm as you suggest, just leaning in more on the cultural rivalry between the two adventurers.

Love a good character page! Gonna make one for my boy Dardalion.

Also, Eric - I think I'd like to change one of my motifs in town. I'm 'Sardonic Poet', but Dardalion is also a "poet" motif, and I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up with Pete in that regard, and the duplication seems unnecessary. Now, 'Innovative Cook'! That's a new motif to be proud of! I don't think this would change the Bonds between the orc and the elf, since we seem to have enough racial/cultural rivalry to satisfy the bond. Maybe we charge the bond every time Dardalion loves orcish food, or the orc appreciates elven poetry?

EDIT: Guy created on the Adventurer page. New name? þórgrim Kilmeister

https://perchance.org/htmw-quickchar

I think I understand you on the quest. Maybe we can finish sorting that out tonight?

Yes, if you start with Aegis then you can take shields as impoverished items, and if you take Heavy Metal Machine you can take iron/steel armor as impoverished items. However, you can only start with one of them; your two starting talents are a path talent (Aegis or Heavy Metal Machine) and your kin talent (which, as a troll, is Giant Strength).

So here's my new idea for a quest: Defeat the golem that's been plaguing the town.

I would also then change my talent mastery from Reaver to Monster Hunter. I would choose Witch Hunter with a specialization in golems.

How does that all sound?

Also, one other question. In the rulebook it says that any equipment that's required for any of your talents counts as impoverished equipment at the beginning of the game. So, since I have Aegis and Heavy Metal Machine, do I understand that correctly to mean that any shield or iron/steel armor count as impoverished items right now?

Also, it's okay if fulfilling your quest doesn't necessarily fulfill your character's goals. You can just say, "Jack's personal quest is to do [specific thing in the Underworld], and he really really hopes that all of the humans will welcome him as a result." And because fulfilling your quest means your character retires unless he finds a new quest, this gives you an easy option to pick up a new quest and keep playing him because not all of the humans welcomed him. surprisedpikachu.gif