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Author Topic: The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/24/17)  (Read 7295 times)

Fleeting Frames

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Re: Return to Deathgate - The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/19/17)
« Reply #15 on: November 21, 2017, 08:15:07 pm »

Did I enjoy it? I did enjoy it!

I initially dismissed the thread as another part of a great saga I don't fully have in memory, but I should not have. This is entertaining.

Also, lot more enemies seems to be abound than I'm used to in DF, what's with every post mentioning some. Ambushes from all around, wolves and &s in caves (my jaw fell open. Where does an Opossum Brute even get Sheep wool trousers?), sasquatches and undead meeting you in the wilds, etc...

Regarding the  goblin site: Would exporting-importing an adventurer be an (easier) option?

And Werima....chilling. Against deadly fog, one may be fortitious to set out with ranged attacks, though depending on its ability to chase you down one might be better to hold breath and shank kidneys from behind.

Also, is that forest retreat in an evil biome?

NCommander

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Re: Return to Deathgate - The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/19/17)
« Reply #16 on: November 22, 2017, 02:39:07 am »

Did I enjoy it? I did enjoy it!

Appreciated!

Quote
I initially dismissed the thread as another part of a great saga I don't fully have in memory, but I should not have. This is entertaining.

Maybe I should dump "Return to Deathgate". It's canonically part of that universe, but Id's visited a lot of other forts. She started there but it's not a defining part of her character or at least, the specific events of DG.

Quote
Also, lot more enemies seems to be abound than I'm used to in DF, what's with every post mentioning some. Ambushes from all around, wolves and &s in caves (my jaw fell open. Where does an Opossum Brute even get Sheep wool trousers?), sasquatches and undead meeting you in the wilds, etc...

From Deathgate. Demons are historical figures when spawned so when I ended fort mode, anything on the map can actually leave and respawn. Intelligent begins I think spawn with clothes in DF2010 (and did pretty much up to DF2014. I vaguely remember a retire/unretire bug where the cats, dogs, and everything else ended up in full pig tail clothing. I actually found a few other places and bits of DG dwarfs spread out in the world.

Animal pops are fixed to a specific site location in the world. Because Id is moving, she can see a LOT more variety because I'm crossing biomes. If I take her down into the caverns, I could find anything that isn't extinct on a world basis.

Quote
Regarding the  goblin site: Would exporting-importing an adventurer be an (easier) option?

I considered this option at the time, and honestly can't remember why I didn't do this.

Quote
And Werima....chilling. Against deadly fog, one may be fortitious to set out with ranged attacks, though depending on its ability to chase you down one might be better to hold breath and shank kidneys from behind.

Also, is that forest retreat in an evil biome?

Evil biomes were actually quite tame in this version. Fogs/glooms/etc were DF2012 as were resurrection, nightcreatures, husks, and vampires. Even said, in adventurer mode, a decently fast adventurer can usually outrun it.

Anyway, as for the no update. On Sunday night, I was bored and wanted to play a roguelike without playing DF (avoiding burnout), so I fired up NetHack thinking "oh, this will go quick". To make a long story short, I ended up sorta, accidentally ascending. NetHack has a DF-style difficulty cliff (though I might even rate it higher than DF's A mode for being unforgiving), so if you want to see what happens when I go head to head with the RNG: https://www.reddit.com/r/nethack/comments/7eoo6n/yaap_wishing_for_two_blessed_scrolls_of_remove/
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Re: Return to Deathgate - The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/19/17)
« Reply #17 on: November 22, 2017, 05:28:10 pm »

Maybe you should try dumping it on a test basis, as to get everyone?

Eh.

*shrug*


Neat that the DG dwarves could leave. I think Sethatos would have wanted his cave dragons to have clothes.


And hm, I guess evil biomes meant just skeletal creatures then. Though my wonder was more about elves accepting an evil forest.

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Re: Return to Deathgate - The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/19/17)
« Reply #18 on: November 24, 2017, 03:33:13 am »

Entry #10
===


Five days have passed since I left Rakedwood. Well, left MIGHT be the wrong word. I’m willing to admit I might have left screaming and running.



I continued on until I reached the Great Divide, the nearly impassable mountain range that surrounds Windy Plane. I want to say I was just taking a breather, practicing my skills, or perhaps hunting dinner.



But the damn fact of the matter is I’m afraid. Not just of Verima Dreamroar. I think I realized it when I was writing the previous entry. There’s a pattern to this madness that I couldn’t see before. I said before I was seeing bits of a pattern. Seeing the fall of Rakedwood, I think, started to put things in focus, and writing it down is helping me put it in order.

For me, the beginning was back in Deathgate. Officially, the breach of hell was labeled an accident. I was still in Fistmachines when it happened, so I can’t say for certain, but there were rumors to the contrary; that the fateful shaft through the adamantite was no accident. Over the next several years, a rot began to creep in until Operation Helldawn was announced.

Helldawn. I need to write about that, even though it makes my stomach churn. I wonder if it’s been set in motion yet. Not tonight. I can’t bring my quill to paper on it.

Tomorrow I head north. I want to be as far as way from civilization as I can for the time. I need to make a decision.

---



The badlands finally gave way to fields of ice. I’m starting to realize that I’m having insights about the world while I’m awake. I’m trying as best I can to ignore this. Nothing about this is right or natural, but I can use the information.

This wasteland was known as “The Constructive Winters”, named by the dwarves who originally braved the Great Divide would be my ancestors. The reason I’m here?

If dwarves could get in here, I can get out. If I’m to actually try and save anyone, we need an escape plan. To go somewhere as far away as possible, and find a way over the Great Divide.

I’m … who am I kidding. I want to escape.

There. I admitted it. To myself if anything. I can do that, even if I may never be able to look at my reflection again. I’m not a hero, I’m not a leader. I’m just a girl with a blue spear who has delusions of grander. I’m not Nist or Muthkat. To whomever may find this, I’m sorry, but if I’m going to survive Helldawn, I need to be as far away from Deathgate as possible.

… I did promise I’d write that. If nothing else, I can keep that promise. Let me talk about Deathgate for a moment. The first colony of Fistmachines in several generations, it was supposed to be an attempt to revitalize our society. For a time, it worked, and trade between Fistmachines and Deathgate was alive and booming, with reports of a growing population. Reports of adamantite caused many to migrate and for a brief moment, it looked like we might change our fortunes.

Right up until that fateful day that a miner accidently dug too deep. Accident or not, what followed was a slow descent of rot and decay. One day, our founder, Anima stood up and announced a great plan that would propel dwarvenkind back into legend and greatness. I thought madness had taken hold of my bredren. To encase ourselves in magma, and release the demons upon the world. What other word could there be? Insanity is one thing, but I watched people in the great hall cheering as Anima announced his plan.

There was nothing I could do to stop them, short of genocide. Contact had been lost with Fistmachines years prior, and no party sent ever returned. There was no one I could turn to for help. Even if I could bring myself to murder my kin (and assuming I was physically capable), I was simply delaying the inevitable. Without dwarves to man and repair the walls, our constructions would eventually crumble. By spear or by lava, the end was set in motion when the Basement of Murder decided to end it all.

Which has made me ask a new question. Why was I the only who had a problem with this?

I mean, there were approximately fifty dwarves when I left home. A few mad dwarves, I could accept. All of them?

Well, it points to two possibilities. Either I was spared from madness, or I in turn have gone mad for thinking it was wrong.

I’m not sure which one is the more terrifying possibility.

---

I had another dream among the ice. This one was different. I’ll recount it as best I can before.

I was back in Deathgate. I was alone, I didn’t see anyone when I wandered the hall. I had a mug of fisher berry wine, and for a moment, everything was alright. I knew that my friends were still alive, I had archery training in an hour, and a new artifact had been created.

That’s when I walked up to … myself.

The Other Id sat next to me. “Mind if you join you?”

“No, help yourself”

”Thanks. How are you tonight?”

I was fine and said so. There was nothing wrong with the world. Everything was right.

”Are you sure, Id?”


“There was nothing wrong with the world. Everything was right.”

”You’ve already seen past that. Look again ..”

I glared at the other me, and looked for the others to try and disprove my doppleganger. Except I couldn’t. I suddenly realized the problem.

I was alone. In Deathgate. There was an unfamiliar sense of rot. In the most crowded part of the fortress. I was confused. Wasn’t everything right?

”The illusion is taking hold because you tried to run … oh, Id. Perhaps I pushed you too far too fast …

“Illusion, what … what is this? Who are you?”

I can’t tell you. Not yet. Even though I want to. You’ve already done more than you realize. More than you comprehend. You did something that I truly thought was impossible. To be honest, I’m not sure I could even blame you if walked away now.

I smacked my hands down on the table hard enough to shake it. “Stop speaking in riddles, damn it! You’re the one responsible for the visions, this … this whatever I’m doing!”

As I banged my hands down the table, the entire room shook. The other I gave me a wry grin, ”Riddles and myth is the one thing that has kept me alive Id. I will not apologize for it, but I will provide the answers you seek if you’re willing to reach for them.”

The Other Id actually chuckled at my response to that. ”The decision is yours to make. If you actually want the truth, head south til you reach the Waters of Breath, and then west towards a swampland. Past that you’ll find the Field of Flesh, and Arrowstand itself.”

The entire room shook violent, and a deep screaming sound came from below. The other me actually looked scared for a moment. He knows I’m here. I much go. Remember what I said!

And with a violent jolt, I returned to the land of the living.

End of Entry #9
---

 
OOC: Sorry for the delay. Holiday madness took root in my life, plus a revived NetHack addiction. I’m not sure I’m thrilled with how I’m writing this, but I need to bring closure to this for myself. I’ve removed the “Return to Deathgate” from the thread title, and hoping I can get a bit more interest. It’s very disheartening when there are no replies.
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Fucking hell man, you aren't just getting the short end of the stick, you're being beaten with it.
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Is your plan really to flush water into hell, and have the CARP marines fight them without threat of flame or disease?  If so, you are awesome, and one of the greatest DF military visionaries I've seen yet ( not that I've seen that many, or any, for that matter )

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Re: The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/24/17)
« Reply #19 on: November 24, 2017, 05:26:41 pm »

It took me a bit to understand the second screen was zoomed out. The tundra is creepy.

That's...

Bit of a change from start.

Not that there is an escape, but eh. There's complete lack of faith in people back in Deathgate having things well in hand.

...Okay, I had forgotten the plans to fuck the world.

A dwarf ought to be not concerned, though. Overseers' wills are law!

So, with amused heart, I must conclude the one who went mad was Id, not everyone else as she thought it could be.

And now she wanders the fields alone, fighting to not let bogeymen get her, and fighting with the demonds who hound her in the night.

Decisions?

What decisions?

Id makes no decisions in the face of creaking fourth wall. Or rather, the wall itself is the decision.

Though I'm not sure what arrowstand was. I think the llama demon had different name...

PS: 3 days isn't much of a reply delay, given when this was started.

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Re: The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/24/17)
« Reply #20 on: November 25, 2017, 06:30:18 am »

Posting to express my interest!
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Re: The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/24/17)
« Reply #21 on: November 27, 2017, 05:16:38 am »

The demon lord is Dreamroar. Arrowstand is a location in the world near where Fistmachines is supposed to be, but mountain hall adventure sites don't exist. Honestly, the problem I ran into is that Deathgate was genned in a pocket world. There's NOT much in it to begin with, and because the world progressed to the Age of Fairy Tales, nearly everything except the humans are dead.

This has been proven to be a lot more narrative heavy than I liked, but in the updates to come, I ended up wandering a lot of the map seeing what else there was; aside from a single bandit camp in the corner there wasn't much beyond what was already explored. The next update will likely be the last major narrative one until the end, and then we'll end up with the last few quests I could convince the game to give me before we put the save to bed.

As I said before, Id's story started in Deathgate, but it didn't end there. I'm mostly setting up her story, her world, and her journey, and I probably need to catalog the other forts and stories I've written her into. As of writing, she's been in Archcrystal, Deathgate, Doomforests, and Clobblermountains. She may show up as an actual dwarf in fort mode again in the 40d throwback fortress due to the previous forts ending.
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Fucking hell man, you aren't just getting the short end of the stick, you're being beaten with it.
Quote from: NRDL
Is your plan really to flush water into hell, and have the CARP marines fight them without threat of flame or disease?  If so, you are awesome, and one of the greatest DF military visionaries I've seen yet ( not that I've seen that many, or any, for that matter )

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Re: The Story Of Id Matulcog (Updated 11/24/17)
« Reply #22 on: November 28, 2017, 10:22:10 am »

It's still something of a task to explore the entirety of even a pocket world, so that's still pretty cool.

Though, ouch on the Fairy Tales age.

It's...Hm. Lots of forts visited.

I don't think you ever finished a way to import/export Id, though?
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