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That's certainly something. Good thing the new emotional system we're hearing about wasn't a factor in 2012. I'd imagine you'd have an awful lot of traumatised dwarves from this.
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Oct 24, 2014 12:35
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Leperflesh posted:19th Hematite Hrmm, that chamber filled with magma looks familiar to me!
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Oct 24, 2014 13:10
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She knows now why you cry. But it is something she can never do.
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Oct 24, 2014 15:14
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Never before has been the  smilie been more apt.
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Oct 24, 2014 15:26
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We shoul've guided the elves to join her. To test the sorcery out.
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Oct 24, 2014 15:30
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Oct 24, 2014 20:59
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Mikl posted:Never before has been the
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Oct 24, 2014 23:37
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Daaaamn... RIP Lazy Trebuchet, embodiment of our dorfly sins...
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Oct 25, 2014 01:11
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drat, shame about that hatch. Can you just shut the floodgates for a while so we don't waste any more magma? Are you planning to build a new hatch somewhere else or drop something into the flow down there?
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Oct 25, 2014 04:07
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Well uh that's special alright. If you poured water over the lava, that would turn the lava to obsidian, encasing the zombie inside. I dont know if that will kill it though.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:17
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SynthOrange posted:Well uh that's special alright. Pretty sure obsidianizing something is just a flat "this is now dead" change, rather than damage/status-inflicting on a character. It'll even kill demons.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:23
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Arglebargle III posted:drat, shame about that hatch. Can you just shut the floodgates for a while so we don't waste any more magma? Are you planning to build a new hatch somewhere else or drop something into the flow down there? We have an unlimited supply of magma - magma pipes simply refill if you draw from them. SynthOrange posted:Well uh that's special alright. Welp. Minor spoilers, in that this is a behind-the-scenes game mechanics discussion, as well as some talk about how and why I've approached the last year of this LP the way I have: I wasn't sure if anyone would think if that but yeah, it's the obvious solution. The issue with the zombie is, it turns out, an actual bug, and probably not intended behavior. Not that Leperfish knows that. There is an actual fix for the bug, which involves editing the raws to make certain body parts flammable, and you don't have to re-gen the world so I could do that; the faster fix is to use dfhack to destroy zombies once they've been engulfed in lava (such as by using the immolate command); or there's the obsidian treatment, which is a viable workaround which would take advantage of the conveniently placed twin pools of water and lava. I will leave it a mystery (until next update!) which option I pick, and of course it'll be smoothly integrated in-game so that it does not seem like a hack, but I kind of wish I'd figured out this was a bug in advance of discovering it so I could address it in the same update and avoid speculation. On the other hand, if I had known about the bug in advance, we wouldn't have gotten this truly spectacularly horrifying sequence with Lazy Trebuchet. So... maybe it was best this way? Throughout this LP, I've deliberately avoided learning how the evil weather/murk zombies/etc. work by reading wikis and bug reports, preferring to discover things along with Leperfish. While it's certainly dragged things out, it's also made for more authentic writing, and I've done several experiments that I likely never would have bothered with otherwise... such as the attempt to defeat the murk by removing the top soil layer. (I actually thought the murk would hover over the hole, sticking to its 'original' layer, rather than flowing down into it and even spawning on the exposed underlayer.) Ultimately it will be up to the audience to decide if this was a worthwhile approach or not. We are very, very near the end now: I think there will be two more updates, possibly three. Some things will be wrapped up, others will not; my guess is that some of you will be satisfied, and some will not be. That is OK with me. I hope at the very least, you will all have been entertained. 
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Oct 25, 2014 19:05
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Leperflesh posted:My guess is that some of you will be satisfied, and some will not be. I'll be happy until the updates end, at which point I will be inconsolable. That is all.
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Oct 25, 2014 20:50
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Ghostwoods posted:I'll be happy until the updates end, at which point I will be inconsolable.
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Oct 25, 2014 21:20
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Ghostwoods posted:I'll be happy until the updates end, at which point I will be inconsolable. Also sad when the fortress inevitably fills up with Lava because Leper missed something. But that's the FUN of DF.
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Oct 25, 2014 21:31
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Veloxyll posted:Also sad when the fortress inevitably fills up with Lava because Leper missed something. But that's the FUN of DF. I like to think of it as preserving the fortress for posterity. Like filling an ants nest with concrete then digging it out, when the magma eventually cools to obsidian or granite, giant future archeologists will be able to excavate a perfect model of Dwarven architecture. And their eyes will bleed, and their minds melt at the clusterfuck before them, and Armok will look down and smile.
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Oct 25, 2014 23:01
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We should have a DF LP whose objective is simply to produce an architectural masterpiece. The Falling Water of fortresses.
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Oct 26, 2014 02:35
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There was that guy who made a perpetual motion engine...
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Oct 26, 2014 02:51
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Problem with Dwarf Fizziks: perpetual motion is sort of easy. There's several working designs that even a muppet can build. There used to be a page of challenges on the DFwiki that were quite fun, and now we have the Dworacle. Might be fun to do a fortress where wach overseer has a different mission from the Dworacle to complete so we end up with an unworkable clusterfuck of half finished projects. E: Oh, hey, the challenge page is still there and longer than ever. Have Fun! Bene Elim fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Oct 27, 2014 |
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Oct 27, 2014 08:33
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Bene Elim posted:we end up with an unworkable clusterfuck of half finished projects. Next LP thread title right there.
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Oct 27, 2014 14:35
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 22nd Hematite, 254 I inspected the disused tunnel that runs parallel to the troublesome lava leak.  To stop the flow of lava into the lower mines we must seal the wide tunnel down which it runs. A dwarf cannot construct a wall there but a wall can be made. Water running onto lava will freeze it to stone. A source of water is already nearby. We will dig a short tunnel to flow water into the lava, build floodgates to control it, wall it up, and then channel from above to release the flood.  23rd Hematite Immigrants have come; a party of four, three of them former traders.  Emy Eribustuth “Gorgefenced” is a former trader of middle age of no particular origin and with no family to speak of. Other than aggressive negotiation tactics he has dabbled in many minor tasks but has no great skill. He expressed delighted to arrive at Bronzestabbed and be given any task to perform. I would say he can haul but lately as many as a hundred dwarves have been idle so I told him to find himself a room and wait for orders.    Cerebulon Idenegul “Paddlecontrols” is a former trader of middle age of no particular origin and with no family to speak of. She has negotiation skills but otherwise has only dabbled. When I welcomed her to Bronzestabbed she hugged me with strong arms and then begged we will not make her leave and could she have a drink because the traveling party ran out of booze weeks ago. I informed Cerebulon she may stay as long as she likes and is welcome to sample our extensive stockpile of fine drinks.    MadPierrot Adileshon “Wallgood” is a weaverdwarf and clothier of early middle age of no particular origin and with no family to speak of with additional experience crafting and working with clay, leather, bone, wood, stone, glass, and wax. He requested access to workshops to practice his trade without urgency so his best work can be performed. I informed we always need more clothes but with many clothiers he need not rush for I prefer finer clothing be made especially with so many dwarves content to wander about in filthy rags might be tempted to discard them for something newer.    LordNad Urvadakmam is a caravan guard and trader of late middle age from the former capitol Paintfamous with no family to speak of. I inquired as to the state of things in Paintfamous but LordNad has been working as caravan guard for years and has no fresh news. I informed the militia always needs warriors which he nodded but did not seem concerned nor excited. Perhaps he did not see the burning fiendish murk zombie in our lava moat when he arrived. I noted he does not revere any god.   24th Hematite With so many dwarves idle, the water project proceeds quickly.  I have not looked outside to watch the burning zombie.  28th Hematite The lower mine is still filling with magma, slowly.  The square magma chamber is depleted to about the same level as the area beneath the pump stack.  I think opening it up further would require venturing into the caverns, where still prowl the great beasts of forgotten lore.  2nd Malachite Floodgates are almost in place. We need doors for security because the last step will be to open the tunnel to the lava-flooded area. The burning, horrifying fiendish murk zombie dwarf if it can still walk might come into the fortress that way. Also the water must not be allowed to flood the fortress.  Samuel L. Jackson built the lever. I ordered it connected to the floodgates. 3rd Malachite The proud father SuRoXT announced his wife Athanboros gave birth in their bedroom to the infant girl Tyty. Her grandfather Aesop Poprock still survives at Bronzestabbed.     5th Malachite The lava has filled the north end of the trench enough to flow across its top. It fills faster than it drains down the melted hatchway.   Whatever foul magic sustains Lazy Trebuchet still prevails against the heat of the magma which swirls about her charred feet. 7th Malachite Samuel L. Jackson began joining the floodgates to the lever today. I am cautioned the delicate and complex process will take days.  14th Malachite Metafurk abandoned a hauled item demanding dwarves get out of her way, cackling and muttering to herself.   She is an armorer by trade. We have hopes for a superior piece of armor to add to Bronzestabbed's legendary collections. 16th Malachite Vetinari100 gave birth to her fourth child among the growing plants in the farms; a girl she has named Webguy Stoneheart III Degrimtar “Evencastle” which is quite a long name for such a small dwarf.    Metafurk claimed a magma forge.  19th Malachite Lazy Trebuchet has moved. She still gives off a great plume of smoke and billowing flames and gushes with blood from every part of her body black and boiling and terrible to behold.  Samuel L. Jackson finished linking one of the two floodgates today. I must assume it will take Vaga42Bond another two weeks to finish the other. I do not understand mechanics. 24th Malachite A new ghost has been seen haunting the fortress. It is said the spectre speaks its name, “Lor Ushatothil,” but I can find no record of such a dwarf in the lists of the dead. We cannot engrave a memorial without a record to tell us what to carve.  I considered requesting Pickled Tink to interrogate the haunt but I concern the child might then be attached and unhappy if we find a way to put the new ghost to rest. 25th Malachite Savage Gentleman is twelve today and old enough to take work assignment. He may one day learn a trade but for now may farm as we have surplus labor.    27th Malachite The floodgates still are not ready but the lava flows perilously close to where we must breach the wall and dig. I dare wait no longer.  I ordered the channels dug and also the axedwarves of The Bronze Delights stationed as precaution.  28th Malachite The mayor permits sock exports. It must be temporary.  Artificer and YOTC came to dig the channels and brave the lava.  1st Galena They managed it safely.   The mechanisms at the floodgate were finished finally today. Still a linkage at the lever must be made but we can block the passage with sturdy walls.  The squad which misunderstood station commands had begun assembly in the windmill power transfer room is dismissed. 2nd Galena Kalman's bout with sanity this time lasted only two days.  The lower mine is nearly filled.  Mine tunnels two levels above have begun to flood with molten rock.  3rd Galena She still burns.  5th Galena SilentDwarf finished the wall.  6th Galena Metafurk has begun her labor at the magma forge.  8th Galena The upper lava flow has finally reached and melted the upper hatch.  Vaga42Bond is bringing the mechanisms to connect the lever. 10th Galena The project is finally complete.  Without hesitation I ordered the lever pulled. Before even that job had been assigned word spread throughout the fortress. Metafurk's lifework is complete! She has made Nidostaban “The Ferocious Construct.” It is a breastplate crafted from adamantine.   Magnificent. Its exquisite form and decorations are not only the finest ever made it is also perfectly functional the best armor any dwarf has ever forged. The image of Praisepartners the adamantine crossbow rendered in raw adamantine informs the intent a dwarf of supreme skill with crossbow ought to wear it. The giant fish called “orca” emblazoned in elk bird leather commemorates the latest act of water engineering. On the back is an image depicting the parable of the vile woman groom and the dwarf Lorbam Tonguesmiths. Daeren Highfortresses the Pearl of Drilling is the most skilled of all marksdwarfs in the legends of The Rare Ship. I have assigned the breastplate to her.  12th Galena Iceclaw Olinothos one of Bronzestabbed's mechanics drew the job to pull the lever. Realizing there would be no view from the tunnel many idle dwarves gathered on the walls to observe the spectacle of the flood spreading out over the shallow lake of lava hopefully to destroy the fiendish murk zombie finally.  Moments later the floodgates opened releasing a wall of water.  A hissing became a roar in a bare second or two as steam exploded from the instantly freezing lava, showers of obsidian shards rattling against the stone walls.   In the lower tunnel obsidian rapidly blocked the downward slopes preventing water from flowing into the tunnel. Above, the lava was shallow enough to freeze into an obsidian floor allowing water to gush into the tunnel.  Soon though rock piled atop rock and that tunnel also clogged.  In a minute or two, it was over. We groaned from the walls to know the flood had failed, not even to block the lava draining into the mines much less to wash into the reservoir outside. 13th Galena Determined not to be defeated yet I ordered the upper obsidian wall excavated from above.  14th Galena Soon enough the miners arrived.  YOTC opened the first channel.  Below, water again flooded onto hot lava and exploded in clouds of steam.  Again, a new wall of obsidian formed. It may be fruitless but I am determined to get water to flow down the open hatchway between the lava tunnels. I ordered more digging.  16th Galena We followed the hot obsidian rock to the hatchway with several new digs.    As the water finally flowed down the melted hatchway, we were hailed from outside the walls: a human caravan has come!  Water splashed down the hole to distant sounds of cracking rock and gurgling steam but after several hours it is clear the water only boils on the scorching-hot staircase not forming rock to clog the shaft.  We continued to dig from above at least to spread the water more and allow faster flow. 18th Galena Former overseer Neddy Seagoon climbed down into the new hole – gushing steam – to inspect a smoking wall of fresh obsidian before declaring it too difficult to mine.  Eventually he climbed out, looking slightly cleaner but no worse for the experience, grinning flatly from ear to ear in the general direction of the human wagoneers in his usual disturbing way.  With the water flowing we can't dig but now the upper channel's lava flow is cut off we can dig into the lower one without trouble. I spent the rest of the day ordering items hauled to the trade depot. The humans will not take offense at wood. 20th Galena The merchants muttered about the stench of burning flesh outdoors but were glad enough to begin unloading their wares.  21st Galena I ordered the flow of water shut off. When the level is low enough we can mine in the tunnel.  The tame black bears have birthed another cub. 24th Galena The miners get a warm bath.  I eventually joined them. I wanted to see to the dangerous channeling downward personally.  A stray tame kangaroo joined me while I dug. She is enormous but gentle I am not intimidated. 25th Galena We offered the humans several barrels of various types of blood and ichor, some worn out clothing, a few pieces of wooden armor someone must have bought from elves years ago, a few trinkets, and a few stray items of large clothing that have turned up.  In exchange we bought wine, beer, and milk barrels; a few bins of cloth and leather; and a truly vast quantity of prepared meats and seafood. 27th Galena The floor of the upper channel has been dug out enough to expose the lava flow down the lower hatchway.   I once again ordered the floodgates opened.  1st Limestone The season turns once more. MedievalMedic pulled the lever. Yeol's pet cat Zulban had wandered into the path of the water.  As the flood began to pour in Saoritficis also climbed into the pit to fetch a stray sheep leather cloak!  They were soon roiled by swirling water steam and filth. The rushing tide threatened to wash them both into the crackling lava and popping obsidian churning just a yard away!  Saoritficis' dog Meng leapt into the pit loyal to his master barking panicked.  After a tense minute passed all climbed from the steaming pit without harm done to them.  Below, the water froze deep lava into obsidian and the flow of lava into the deep mines was finally ceased.  I knew that now we need only wait. The pit outside would fill and with Ugath's grace the burning murk zombie will finally melt drowned in molten rock. I went outside for the first time in weeks to check on her and was shocked to see no sign!  She has fallen or been swept into the deep lava or finally burned up. There is no escape. No way up or out. Whether she melted or still remains in the depths we may never know. It does not matter. It is proof, finally: bronzestabbed can be protected from all that comes from the Murk, by walls, by water, by pit filled with molten rock pumped up from the deeps. With fire and steam and trap. By ballista and axe and dwarven might. It is fulfillment at last of The Noble Work. I must make my final preparations and resolve the last few works that remain for me here, before I leave. 
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Oct 31, 2014 08:30
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 as gently caress.
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Oct 31, 2014 13:39
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This is an amazing final boss for this fort.
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Oct 31, 2014 13:43
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Leperflesh posted:18th Galena  I may be crazy, but I ain't stupid.
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Oct 31, 2014 14:04
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Not gonna lie, kinda hoping the next update will be the burning murk zombie somehow reappearing inside the fortress and proceed to wreck absolutely everything. A bugged-out ever-burning murk zombie ultimately being the doom of Bronzestabbed seems as good an end as any, because, y'know, Dwarf Fortress and all.
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Oct 31, 2014 15:32
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WereVolvo posted:kinda hoping the next update will be the burning murk zombie I'm starting to wonder if it is somehow being transformed into an unstoppable Bronze Golem.
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Oct 31, 2014 18:23
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Aw. I don't want to disappoint you guys so I'll just say it. There really isn't any way in. She's behind solid walls of stone, so unless she can swim in magma back up to the surface of the lava pit (one level above) without the use of ramps, she's stuck. My intention here was to leave the ultimate fate ambiguous. When it turned out water couldn't be forced up the tunnel full of lava (because it forms walls along the leading edge), I was thinking I'd pump it onto her from the top of the pit. But apparently she decided to go spelunking, so even that wouldn't work. It would be really hard to get to her now, not impossible but it'd take a fair amount of engineering, and since she can't be seen from the surface, why wouldn't Leperfish assume she's probably destroyed anyway? So she's gonna stay there and I'm going to move on. It's OK. Bronzestabbed has lots of horrifying things held behind walls, it's kind of a theme for how the dwarves deal with things here.
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Oct 31, 2014 19:30
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Slasher movies will be made of the murk zombie coming out of a lava lake to shuffle after promiscuous teen dwarves.
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Oct 31, 2014 22:17
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I kinda forgot there were probably an awful lot of forgotten beasts wandering the caverns of a fortress this old. A four way battle royale between a goblin siege, unkillable fire zombie and other murks, forgotten beasts and the army would be a pretty epic ending too imo.
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Oct 31, 2014 23:01
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Don't forget the room full of Neddy Seagoon's friends.
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Nov 1, 2014 00:12
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A forgotten murk zombie in a lava pool behind a wall that might later be engineered away is exactly the sort of thing that should be lurking in an old fortress.
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Nov 1, 2014 05:19
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Dashticle posted:I kinda forgot there were probably an awful lot of forgotten beasts wandering the caverns of a fortress this old. A four way battle royale between a goblin siege, unkillable fire zombie and other murks, forgotten beasts and the army would be a pretty epic ending too imo. Yeah there's several. In fact we haven't gotten a new one in so many years, I'm pretty sure there's some kind of maximum number of live FBs you can have on the map at once, and we're at that point.
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Nov 1, 2014 06:41
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Leperflesh posted:Yeah there's several. In fact we haven't gotten a new one in so many years, I'm pretty sure there's some kind of maximum number of live FBs you can have on the map at once, and we're at that point. There is something incredibly amusing about a fortress having completely forgotten about the number of forgotten beasts roaming around in its depths.
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Nov 1, 2014 07:00
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Caros posted:There is something incredibly amusing about a fortress having completely forgotten about the number of forgotten beasts roaming around in its depths. They're called forgotten beasts for a reason! 
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Nov 1, 2014 14:48
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Interlude: 1st Limestone, 254 Pickled Tink the ghostly child former overseer floated through the door of my office and surprised me with his transluscent presence while I was organizing records of Bronzestabbed's extensive stockpiles of cut stone blocks. “Hullo Leperfish,” he said with his customary haunted look, and I attempted to smile and greet him although Pickled Tink never smiles. “How are you, Tink?” I asked. “I'm good. I've been working on my book.” I expressed perhaps more surprise than I should. “You've.... you're writing a book?” “Uh huh. It's a book of stories about Bronzestabbed!” “But... I mean, come to think of it, how do you write at all? I mean, can you hold a quill?” Pickled Tink brightened by which I mean he glowed somewhat casting a pale light. “Oh no, there's a trick to it you see I just get a parchment and kind of... well... look,” he said, and with a gesture a clean sheet from my record book detached itself and scooted across my table. As he waved his translucent hand over the page, words began to form, in a jagged script of a suspiciously crimson hue. “I call it 'ghostwriting'!” On occasion I forget for some moments that Pickled Tink is dead until he does something such as float through a door or cause words scribed in blood to appear on my parchment. “Very... uh, very impressive,” I told him after a moment. “Well, I don't always do it that way because I don't know how to spell that good so sometimes I just tell the story to Spermy Smurf and he writes it down for me” he said. “And you said your stories are about Bronzestabbed?” I asked. “Yeah, well, you remember, there was that one year back in 247-8 when we had no Overseer, well I thought we should always have a record for every year so I've been making the stories for it.” “That is very conscientious of you, Pickled Tink. Creating and maintaining comprehensive records of our history is a sacred duty.” “You can read it if you want!” Pickled Tink declared brightly. In an instant a large pile of dogeared papers materialized on my table with a thump, dust and cobwebs and a few splatters of pink ectoplasm puffing into the air as it landed. “I... yes, of course, I'd be delighted to take a look.” The ghost nodded with satisfaction and then changed the subject, his mood becoming grim in an instant in the manner only the deceased can manage with such gravity. “You know its been four years since you took over as Overseer this time,” he said quietly. “Aye, that's correct” I replied thinking about it. “I took over on 1st Limestone, 250.” “Do you remember how afraid many dwarves were about the... problem, down in the deep?” I shivered a little. “Yes Tink, I recall.” “Well?” he said. “I know there have been lots of things to deal with like all the goblins and the murks and the trial and the ballistae and more goblins and ogres and murks and all the stuff the Queen made you do and the pits with the water and the magma... but aren't you going to do something about it? Eventually?” I sat still in startlement to regard him carefully. It may be that a ghost boy does not recall things that happened after his death as well as a live dwarf might so I excused his lapse in memory. “Pickled Tink, we sealed the stairs that led down to the... into... that led all the way down, not long after I discovered them. Nothing can come up that way now. And you yourself ensured all entries and exits from the caverns were sealed: none of the ancient monsters that prowl in those chambers has found a way into the fortress since you were Overseer.” The ghost shook his head, and I could see the wall through him more clearly, as he faded to only bare outlines and shadows of his insubstantial form. “No, Leperfish, not that. I meant the... the room.” “What room?” I queried, now puzzled as to his meaning. “The room with the... where the terrible... things are.” I could barely hear him. I realized suddenly that he was frightened, deeply reluctant to even speak of this. I attempted gentleness. “Pickled Tink, my friend. It's alright,” I consoled. “Whatever it is, it's alright. I will address it. Only tell me... what bad things?” “There's a room down there, Leperfish. A prison where there are terrible things. I can't go there, but you can't just leave it like that, you can't.” I could no longer see him, only hearing his voice as though a faint echo as one may hear when passing a deep mine shaft at the end of which some miners speak to each other quietly. Has he guessed at my plans? I do not plan just yet to reveal to the ghost that I am going. However I suspected I knew the room. “Tink, some time ago I spoke to the former overseer Neddy Seagoon, whom some call 'the crazy one,' regarding a certain matter of missing food and he was quite evasive and strange. Do you think that has something to do with it?” “Yes” I heard, and then Pickled Tink was gone, faded off to wherever he goes when he disappears from view. At the base of the magma pump stack there is an area we cut into to improve magma flow that was previously mined in a perfect square.   Pickled Tink's words have aroused suspicion it is the source of his terror and also perhaps a clue to the mystery of the missing food and drinks Neddy Seagoon was so evasive about. It is filled with magma but must have been empty when it was mined. I explored the magma forge chamber and was drawn to a disused stair down behind an infrequently used jeweler's workshop.  Down the stairs I heard a frighting noise through the solid rock. A rhythmic bubbling in the frigid waters.   Further down I found mineworks, dark tunnels with side-cuts that went nowhere.  Where the gabbro turned to marble I found cut stone blocking hallways. This area seemed familiar to me!  I found a doorway that opened onto a shaft above lava. Far above are hatches – it is one of our magma disposal chutes.   I found more tunnels, and more doorways. I found the place where the militia captain JollyPubJerk was slain by a magma trap activated by a lever in the year 245.  I remember this now. Years ago, when the dwarf Sky Shadowing was Overseer, I was summoned along with Mortal Sword and Mister Vile, to witness the moment when... … Yes. There is the room full of magma. I looked through the open doorway and beheld the magma as a shimmering wall, seemingly with nothing holding it back, yet it did not flow into the hallway as it ought. Some dark magic must be at work here!  And there is another chamber beside it, with another lever. The walls at the end of the corridor must lead to the area of the square dig. How had I forgotten about this for so long? On that day when a dwarf drowned in a shower of magma, a terrible creature arrived in the caverns, and the four of us fled up the stairs in a mad panic. Later, Markus_cz and Vox Nihili and I met in the dining hall to drink away the memory. I do not recall how much we drank. It was a very great deal. I returned up long flights of stairs to inhabited levels of Bronzestabbed, by asking among former masons and miners it is told these mineworks were made not by the former overseer Neddy Seagoon, but rather directed by former overseer LeJackal. LeJackal who was acquitted by Queen Sankis in the mysterious disappearance of the children TildeATH and Pickled Tink, although neither dwarf was ever found, and we know by his ghost Pickled Tink at least perished. Tink has not spoken to me of exactly how he died, and my inquiries however gentle he always deflects or avoids, sometimes by floating away through the floor. At his trial, LeJackal was accused of imprisoning the children. He did not deny it but claimed they were “enemies of Bronzestabbed.” I do not know if the Queen accepted his arguments (that Pickled Tink was ever an enemy is preposterous) or if she had some other reason to be lenient. Sankis was ever inscrutable, even when she was trying very hard to make me understand her intention. Perhaps Neddy Seagoon was involved somehow. I do not know why Pickled Tink fears him otherwise. It is certain that he has strange habits, and claims strange friends. Perhaps I will find out. LeJackal is long dead and memorialized. Yet during his year as Overseer, and for many years that followed, there was much that happened within Bronzestabbed that I preferred not to know about, or to forget about if I knew. I was during those years overly consumed by my grief for those whom I have lost, those friends of mine who perished for The Noble Work because of my own actions and because of my own failures. I still carry the burden of my guilt for their deaths, even after all these years. High above, at the surface, our dwarf-made lake slowly fills with scorching lava.  Our walls are stout, our gates secure. It is past time I uncovered an evil that was done, during that time when I forgot my Duty and was content only to keep stockpile records and drink Longland beer and weep for the dead. The lost children of Bronzestabbed must, at long last, have justice.
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Nov 7, 2014 08:49
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Today's update is short, for a reason. It's an interlude, while I work on the Finale. I have been consistently posting updates weekly on Thursday nights for a very long time now, but I may finally break that pattern: the Finale will be a lot of work, and I want it to be high quality. After the Finale there will probably be an Epilogue, and that should wrap up Bronzestabbed. Thank you for your continued patience (real or feigned).
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Nov 7, 2014 08:51
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I'm just happy my turn has been mentioned in exacting, agonizing detail! EDIT: Which, now that I think of it, means that I left three plot threads in there still for you to resolve in your final turn. (Or not, if you so wish.)
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Nov 7, 2014 11:41
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Can not wait for the trumpets to be blown and all the dead dwarfs raised to fight the final boss alongside those who remain.
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Nov 7, 2014 14:03
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I'm glad to see my wonderful deathtraps and other things done during my turn are still reverberating! The appeal of a good deathtrap is indeed timeless.
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Nov 7, 2014 14:04
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Anyone want to go back and count how many times it's been said that we are 2-3 updates away from being done with this?
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Nov 7, 2014 14:06
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