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Author Topic: Demongate: Wrapping up the Loose Ends.  (Read 663894 times)

MDFification

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #510 on: April 03, 2014, 06:34:28 pm »

Just to let you guys know a good tip about posting...*Whispering* Don't post when you have asleep you will make lots of mistakes. Ha

We have now surpassed the Drunk Fortress thread in terms of sheer WTF posts.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2014, 07:31:40 pm by MDFification »
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fractalman

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #511 on: April 03, 2014, 07:41:58 pm »

"I was.... I was stalking two people, I smelt the aura of dark tomes on one of them and arcane magic on the other. If you wondering why I can smell magic its because I'm part of the forgotten hunters, we live of the meat of Forgotten beasts, but unlike other forts that might eat the flesh of them we learned how to eat the true strength of the Beasts. It gives us the power to track the Beasts by smelling the magic auras they give off."

"Oh. Well in that case, my advice to you is: don't get too close to books of magic without an instructor.  Since you can sense magic, you have a higher coupling constant and so trigger them sooner. Well, I'd better analyze the data I recorded before it deteriorates.  Perhaps next time you can tell me more about how your people draw strength from forgotten beasts."


A pity. I had thought, for a moment, that she had created her own curse by sheer accident, but the one to create the fire, somehow, but it seemed I needed to obtain those books for myself; whether I destroyed them, studied them in depth, or sealed them away...I could decide later.  As things stood, a passive source of meta-balefire lying around would probably wipe the fortress from history within 3 years of my experience. *grumble temporal grammer grumble*


....
ooc: I'm quite aware that my character has just jumped to completely the wrong conclusion. 

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This is a masterwork ledger.  It contains 3719356 pages on the topic of the precise number and location of stones in Spindlybrooks.  In the text, the dwarves are hauling.
"And here is where we get the undead unicorns. Stop looking at me that way, you should have seen the zombie deer running around last week!"

Gnorm

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #512 on: April 03, 2014, 08:49:11 pm »

I made sure that Thane grabbed the bismuth bronze we had, so the weapon will be legitimately dangerous in the right hands. She was pretty determined to use copper, though. As for Tarmid, that was not my plan; I completely forgot about the vampire. The criminal listed in the justice menu is the vampire, though, so you need not search wildly.
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And we were this close to yet another victim of Gnorm, the Overseer Killer.

Rhaken

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #513 on: April 03, 2014, 09:02:18 pm »

Okay ladies and gents, here's the deal. I have a deadline to meet by tomorrow night. After that, I have a slightly less pressing deadline to meet on monday. Once all of that is over and done with, I'm all yours. I might even have the time to begin my turn during the weekend.

I'm going to see what I can do to save Tarmid from dying 30 seconds into my turn. I believe burrowing the vampire elsewhere will interrupt his feeding. If that fails, well. I'll think of something.
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Of course, he may have simply crushed the forgotten beasts with his massive testicles.

Forget a spouse, he needs a full time gonad wrangler.

Gnorm

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #514 on: April 03, 2014, 09:26:24 pm »

I did some brief testing, and it seems that setting up a burrow and having the inactive population from the militia screen go to it will indeed save Tarmid. I haven't tested it with assigning only the vampire to the burrow, but in my experience it can be a little buggy, and that's with non-vampires.
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And we were this close to yet another victim of Gnorm, the Overseer Killer.

MDFification

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #515 on: April 03, 2014, 10:00:51 pm »

I did some brief testing, and it seems that setting up a burrow and having the inactive population from the militia screen go to it will indeed save Tarmid. I haven't tested it with assigning only the vampire to the burrow, but in my experience it can be a little buggy, and that's with non-vampires.

And we were this close to yet another victim of Gnorm, the Overseer Killer.
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Deus Asmoth

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #516 on: April 03, 2014, 10:03:35 pm »

There's still time. Thane night want shells or something else we don't have for the artifact.
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Gnorm

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #517 on: April 03, 2014, 10:37:15 pm »

There's still time. Thane night want shells or something else we don't have for the artifact.
I think that we have plenty of shells from all the fishing.
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Rhaken

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #518 on: April 04, 2014, 10:20:19 pm »

Tarmid groaned, rubbed his blood-shot eyes. He hadn't slept in two days now. Not since the mysterious Joyce had arrived in the fort, highly persuasive despite his nakedness. Tarmid had yet to receive any news of Joyce's activities. In part because he had locked himself in his study ever since, forgoing food and sleep and relying on his now near-empty flask for alcohol.

Joyce. He had read that name before, decades ago. His mind had somehow associated it with mysterious Steelhold. But where had he read it? Though thousands of texts had been written on the subject of the ancient fortress, many were naught but conjecture or religious drivel. There were seven different tomes called The Truth of Steehold, all by different authors, all wildly contradicting. The volumes entitled Lives of the Dwarven Saints were grounded in fact, but were twisted into tales of morality.

He had spent most of his time so far digging through these texts, searching for mention of a Joyce. He knew he had seen it before. Tarmid almost had the presence of mind to mock himself. If there truly had been a Joyce in Steelhold, how could it possibly be the same dwarf that had appeared before them two nights previous? Over seven hundred years had gone by since then. No dwarf lived that long.

But what if it wasn't a simple dwarf?

Tarmid shut the book on his tabletop, put it aside in a pile as tall as he was. He had reread dozens of volumes already, some spanning a half-thousand pages. No mention of a Joyce. Two days of research, and nothing gained. Nothing unusual in his line of work. He was about to start on the next tome when a knock came to his office door.

It was Thane, ready for another lesson. Tarmid led her in, took her to her seat, and opened the book they had been studying.

Then he collapsed onto the desk.




The scribe sat up, stunned and groggy. He was on a bed in the fortress hospital, Brother Cornelius by his side. On a small bedside table lay several empty flasks and plates housing nothing but crumbs.

"How long was I out?"

"Four days," the monk replied. "You really burned yourself out, Tarmid."

"Hogwash," Tarmid said, dismissive. "I've had worse. I went a week without sleeping for the sake of research once."

"Did you go into a coma afterwards?"

"...Yes."

"Well there you go." Cornelius picked up the scribe's medical chart. "You were dehydrated and a bit malnourished, so I fed you while you slept. You should be fine to move about soon, though I suggest taking it easy."

"Oh, by the way," the doctor continued, "The caravan from the mountainhomes came by. One of them said he had something for you. A pile of books and something about a Writ of Schooling or somesuch-"

Tarmid had sped out of the room before Cornelius could finish that sentence.



Winter drifted by Demongate as if in a hurry to meet someone, and the dwarves within the fort barely acknowledged that the cold season was coming to an end. The larders were full, and winter's chill ensured that the wine was naturally chilled in its casks.

For Tarmid, winter was a time for work. With the dwarven caravan had come enough books to fill half a wagon, as well as a signed Writ of Schooling. It had taken him an entire day to move everything into his office. The day after, he had met with Gnora to discuss the school. The lass was all for the idea, but had no time to organize it. However, they had cut a deal. At the turn of the year, she would pass control of operations over to Tarmid, to do as he saw fit. The scribe wasn't sure he'd make much of a leader for the entire settlement, but this might prove to be his best chance at starting a school.

In the meantime, he continued his research. Dozens more books had arrived, and he'd been digging through them all winter, though much slower than before. He didn't want to burn himself out again. Unfortunate, then, that this also meant that he would take forever to finish. There were too many tomes, and not enough time to sift through them all. And still no mention of Joyce.

Thane's lessons had continued through the winter, and the lass was showing great promise. After one of her lessons on political history, Tarmid asked her to walk with him. She followed the aging scribe through the halls, curious about his motives.


"I think I've already said that the Order approved and signed my Writ of Schooling. I can start bringing education to the dwarves of Demongate as soon as I have the facilities."

"Well, yes, you told me," Thane said. "Several times. I congratulated you and everything."

Tarmid shrugged. "Forgive my forgetful mind then. However, there's something I'd like to ask of you."

He turned to his apprentice, a glint in his eyes. Out of the corner of his vision, Tarmid could swear he saw Joyce flash him a mischievous grin, pipe in hand. He did his best to ignore that.

"How would you like to help me teach in Demongate?"



It was the turn of the year, and all the dwarves of Demongate had assembled in the meeting hall, gathered to witness Gnora passing control of the fort to Tarmid. That is, every dwarf except Thane, who had forgone this momentous occasion in favor of running all over the place, hauling metal bars and gemstones and talking to herself far more often than a healthy dwarf should.

Tarmid's mind wasn't fully centered on the proceedings. Countless thoughts battled for dominance in his head. His Codex Arcana had yet to turn up. Joyce remained a mystery. Disturbing new evidence had turned up in the writings of Amsan Jestedbow, and Tarmid was beginning to think he knew who the necromancer's dwarven apprentice was. And worse still, there was a vampire loose in the fortress. It would have to be captured, interrogated and executed as soon as possible. The link between vampires and bloodkin was still an unknown variable, even after centuries of the Order's research.

Gnora's voice pulled the scribe's mind back to reality.


"...from this day, Demongate is in the hands of our friend, Scribe Tarmid." She flashed him a nervous smile, and he stepped up to the podium.

"I thank you for this opportunity, Gnora," he said, voice steady from years of teaching in front of audiences. "I will do everything in my power to improve the lives of the residents of Demongate, and help protect them from evil."

He glanced at the assembled dwarves, taking in their general apathy. To most of them, it didn't matter who was in charge, so long as there was food, booze and socks. That attitude suited Tarmid perfectly. It meant there wouldn't be a whole lot of resistance.

"So, my first act as overseer of Demongate." He projected his voice with practiced precision. "Come tomorrow, we will begin construction of a new area. An area of knowledge and learning, open to all residents of the fortress. A place where you may go after work to discover new things. A place to send your children and hone their minds. A place for language, numbers, history and science."

"Tomorrow begins construction of Demongate's schoolhouse."
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Of course, he may have simply crushed the forgotten beasts with his massive testicles.

Forget a spouse, he needs a full time gonad wrangler.

Gnorm

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #519 on: April 05, 2014, 02:18:27 am »

Joyce's Journal
How Long?
--
Gods above! how long have I been out? I have no idea whatsoever what year it may be; have a been asleep for one hundred years, or one thousand! Asleep isn't the most accurate term, I suppose. I can't quite remember when I was nearly killed, but I think it was sometime in the fifth-century. Nearly killed by an ambush from those bastards, and I would be dead now if they hadn't sealed me in that sarcophagus and left me in their fortress. I had just enough thaumateurgical energy to sustain my bodily functions—I'll have to remember that sterling silver is a great insulator for containing these magicks. In essence, I kept my necessary functions going for all these years whilst comatose and slowly rotting away—thank the gods I wasn't conscious!

I don't know how, but when that con-man brought me here—Demongate, as the locals call it—something aroused me and I awoke. I could sense a strong source of magickal energy, but I have been unable to pin-point or ascertain the source. Whatever it was that caused it, I was still awake in that coffin for about a month-and-a-half before I was able to finally get a drink—a drink! how I miss the wines of the old days—from my rescuer. When the people of the fort arrived, I was fortunately able to convince one of them that I was harmless, though the others seem to doubt it greatly.

From what I can make of this fortress, it appears to be a military base of sorts. From what I can gather from the citizens, very few of them know the true purposes of this fort. Some say that its to keep the enemy out, but when I ask what this enemy is, they respond that they themselves do not know. It seems that the peasantry hasn't changed in these years. As far as location, I'm still on the mainland, and it seems that the others are still trying to take this land for themselves; could that be the danger against which this fort is trying to defend?

There's something else that disturbs me here: Fractal is back! I suppose that—in retrospect—it was foolish to think that he would be killed so easily when the fort fell, but I figured that even he had an expiration date. He's no vampire, so he should be dead, right? He looks nothing like he once did, but I know the old gobshite when I see him, and it's definitely him. I'm not sure what to do with him, half of me wants to kill him, but the other actually views him as an old friend. I'll need to avoid him either way, lest I be recognized.

The overseer of the fortress seems to trust me; she's a nice, stupid one, and I like her for that. She's given me what I've wanted—this quarto, pens, ink, my new three-piece-suit, pipes, tobacco, et cetera—and all because she thinks I'm some transient that'll be gone forever in about a month. Well, with all this kindness, it wouldn't be gentlemanly of me to stay too long, so I'll just remain the quiet nobleman for a short while, and I'll leave as soon as I've found what I've wanted. I'm keeping this journal safely hidden in the mean-time; it might stimulate some awkward conversation, to say the least.
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And we were this close to yet another victim of Gnorm, the Overseer Killer.

Sarrak

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #520 on: April 05, 2014, 04:21:50 am »

"And to think I was this close... Hah. Close to the Joyce. James Joyce, Esq. Corley. Legend of his own name... How long it was, again? Several centuries? Yeah, probably. It's hard to count time while being dead and not quite sane... Anyway, preplanned meeting went awry. Poor Lokast. He has too much willpower for his own good. Sooner or later, he would wander too close to the fire. And I won't have chance to intervene.

Probably, I should try to find an ink and write normally, without bloodletting him. But my condition is still very unstable, even despite constant magic flow and Fractal's disturbing presence. Probably, I should take action only at night. Trying to wrestle with Lokast consciousness proved to be too exhausting and demanding task. I failed utterly to control his body even for a mere minute! Oh well... Why I'm writing this, anyway?..
"

Lokast has waken on the floor near his workplace, a bit light-headed and still clutching blood-stained paper in his hand. Sadly, any symbols, if they even were there, became unrecognizable. Pausing only to bandage his injured appendage, he scrambled back to his desk, passing few heaps of books and manuscripts beside it. Tharmid was kind enough to give him several, naming him "brother", "Gnora" and "friend", while looking like being not quite here. Information gathered from them was quite resourceful and interesting, but still there was nothing important. Perhaps, new portion of manuscripts would hold more things of an actual interest. One can hope, after all.

"If I am not lost in time, today is the day Gnora will give her position to Tharmid. Not sure what kind of overseer he will become, but he is a decent fellow. Quite carried away sometimes, just like me. I heard that he even dehydrated himself while doing research... Well, it is good, but counter-productive in my opinion..."

Looking at the last words, dwarf smiled, closed the book and went in search of a kitchen. Maybe he would even catch a glance of a ceremony. Who knows?



Looked at the save. A bit of bizarre architecture, vampire running wild (bonus points, Gnorm - you nearly killed future overseer. On his own turn), hunters running around in search of a prey...
Looked at my character. He has both hands scarred. And not yet healed. I think DF played it straight for me - I never expected bloodletting to "affect" actual game  :D
« Last Edit: April 05, 2014, 06:52:37 am by Sarrak »
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Science is always important. But it needs more flaming cats. Can't we build bridge-based catapults and fling flaming cats at the dust and goo?

It's time for the ATHATH Death Counter to increase once more in celebration for the end of the world.

MDFification

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #521 on: April 05, 2014, 07:10:20 am »

I really want to know what kind of moral lesson they tried to make the story of Emdief teach. It's ok to be a transgendered, ends-justify-the-means tyrant so long as you oppress the hell out of other religions and Armok likes you?
I get the feeling that even Venerated, Emdief's one of those saints they don't like to talk about. Or, if you're one of the cultists, the antiOku. I think it'd be best if he didn't show up anytime soon, or ever. IDK.

Also, if you want to suggest new names for Vlad's squad, go nuts. This'll be fun.



Journal of Cptn. Vlad, Forget Year

Gnora is not overseer! Is good! Another Knight is overseer now, but Thane seems to be likingk him, so Vlad is ok with this. I vish they didn't spend so much time together but Vlad is strong believer in individual freedoms and vhatnot. Also, Thane beingk happy is good, yes? Vlad does not have much experience vith relationships you don't be payingk for.
Anyway life is good here in militia. Vlad's squad is kitted out as best as can be right now, yes? All havingk weapon of choice and full armor. Vish ve had better metal than bronze, but it'll do. Only vish ve had archers to provide fire support, as the best enemy is enemy with broken limbs vho is also unconscious. Brenzen does not like sense like that, so despite not havingk any knights he still trains vith nobody and calls it a squad. I guess he does not be wantingk to let me outrank him?
Anyway squad vas named 'Oily Jaws' by Brenzen and name hasn't ever been changed. Ve could make up better name but nobody here is creative. Ask other dwarves in fort maybe?

Speaking of in fort, vhatever is going on in there, Vlad is glad to be outside. Except that Thane is inside. Seems to be lots of thingks being done with books. Vlad does not read or vrite foreigner language. Tarmid offer to teach, but Vlad doesn't want to risk gettingk ideas like honor, glory and knightlyness stuck in his head.
Joyce try to get information out of Vlad the other day. He obviously is thinkingk that Vlad is dull, just because Vlad isn't takingk on airs about being Captain! So Vlad is havingk fun vith him. Vlad is tellingk him that the rumors of vampire armies in the south is actually false! Vlad remembers Thane told him about some outlander rock faction, so I is tellingk Joyce it is them. And that their leader is 12-foot tall hermaphrodite. This is makingk Joyce very frightened! Is amusing! Good thingk poor dwarf is a noble. Doesn't seem right in the head, and probably wouldn't survive in Vlad's country. Vlad misses the outlands, but outlands probably don't be missingk Vlad, yes?

Anyway, Vlad'll ask Thane to be gettingk Tarmid to form crossbow squad, and maybe be gettingk us better name, yes? Vlad is happy to be lootingk veapons and armor off goblins, as maybe ve can be gettingk steel if ve harvest enough iron, and Thane gettingk lots of practice can only be good, yes? And maybe Vlad can ask for very own tomb! Being Captain is good!
... eh, you know vhat, maybe I'll just go find Brother Cornelius and 'pray' vith him, pass out and get to doingk it tomorrow.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2014, 09:16:05 am by MDFification »
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danmanthedog

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #522 on: April 05, 2014, 07:45:34 am »

Hmm likes like tarmid is going to be the new scribe... Ha this makes it easy to follow and maybe corner. That joyce character, I don't trust him he has the stench of undead on him but I can't smell any thing else from him. *Cough hack* The symptom are coming back stronger, what ever that sorcerer did it seems to help for a little bit. I wonder if tarmid has any books or tomes about my clans history.
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Deus Asmoth

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #523 on: April 05, 2014, 01:19:17 pm »

I would say that Thane would agree to teach things, but she wouldn't necessarily be very good at it. Plus, she'll be wanting to join the military once she finishes her mood, so her time would be taken up by weapons training (and looting training).
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MDFification

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Re: Demongate: Battling Blood
« Reply #524 on: April 05, 2014, 03:18:32 pm »

I would say that Thane would agree to teach things, but she wouldn't necessarily be very good at it. Plus, she'll be wanting to join the military once she finishes her mood, so her time would be taken up by weapons training (and looting training).

Shame to expose our smith to combat. Make sure you kit her out in armor first.
Also, looting training is very simple. Very simple. Maybe we should rechristen the squad Vlad's Vultures.
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