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Author Topic: Xestsuslozgo - Sing, Sang, Sung.  (Read 9359 times)

King Zultan

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #15 on: September 17, 2019, 10:57:52 pm »

PTW
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

delphonso

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #16 on: September 18, 2019, 07:01:57 pm »

Fourth Adventurer: Tirist Torchpost
Primary Goal: Create an additional tavern in the world.
Secondary Goal: Gather a couple hearthpeople.

I decided to do one of the quicker ideas I had, and ended up really enjoying this one. This was an emergent idea, as when I went through Legends, I noticed there were basically no taverns in the world. I set off to make a new one - so let's get started.

------



Tirist is a peasant, nothing special in any skills. She's got an axe and the ability to carve things from wood. She's got a little social skills and a bit of endurance. A stable, steady dwarf. She's a proud worshiper of Zon Bakedhoney - the god of labor, among other things.



We start off in Oldclasped - which is the southern-most Dwarven settlement. I set my eyes on the patch of forest to the south of the dwarven civilization. This area is between the dwarven and elven lands. I've got some preparations to do first, of course.
Here's Tirist in detail, for those interested.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In Oldclasped, I find a drunk and tell them my idea - let's make our own tavern!



But first, there's someone I want to bring with me. I head a little ways north. Wait, Obok. Do you hear that? Wolves!



Jesus. We wrestle and hack our way through some wolves and get up to Drumhall.



I bring Dishmab Dimpletools into the party and we head back south. I wanted to bring Dishmab along just because I really liked him, sort of a petulant character. He's also a peasant like Tirist. As we left, I got a message I've never seen before. Very odd:



We seek out a nice location somewhere in the south-west. Here's a quick montage of what it's like:



After a bit of wandering, we find a satisfactory spot. I particularly like the river nearby here. Here's the location on the map - you can see it's settled between elven and dwarven lands. The humans are quite small to the south-east. One of those ruins in the north is dwarven. I don't know what the other one is. I might go adventuring in the future to find out what it is. It might be a second dwarven ruin.



We get to work, but are interrupted by a cougar at some point. The team puts it down. I should note, none of the other adventurers ever ran into random fights. But ol' Tirist is a magnet for angry wildlife.



We butcher the cougar up and eat it as we finish up work on the main outline.



I build some of the furniture for the place. I love the way that adventurers just hold all the furniture they make in their hands. The mental image is preposterous.



It takes several 8 hour shifts - usually 2 working, one sleeping. I over-indulge on food and water at some point, as I forgot to eat for nearly a day. Here's a scene from the construction site.



Finally, the place is finished. I quite like it.



I discuss with Obok and Dishmab the details of this place. We're interrupted by an obese black bear, who seems upset we were eating so much cougar without him. We name the tavern after this bear.
Tirist names her own little organization:

She names this site - its name:

The name of the tavern:




For some reason, Dishmab and Obok both refuse to join me as hearthpeople. I'm honestly not sure why. I haven't played with this mechanic much. I try to retire at Brighttorch, but the game isn't recognizing it, and only giving me the option to give in to starvation. I try a few methods to fix this: sleeping outside the site, loading and unloading it, define both rooms. Nothing works, so I retire in Oldclasped. When I restart an adventure with Tirist, however, she starts in Brighttorch - although she still couldn't retire there.

That's it for Tirist! Another tavern is now in the world. Great job, Tirist, slayer of wolves!



---------------------------------------

I've never really built a site in DF. The in-game time for it is a bit overwhelming. I think it took the three of us a week to build this place. Luckily the river/snow and dead cougar kept Tirist fed, otherwise it'd be a problem. Anyone know what's up with the retire at this location thing? I feel like it's very possible.

I don't expect The Flame of Bears to have a strong impact on the world, but hopefully additional taverns will do /something/. My next plan was actually to make a group of performers and retire them at that tavern - however, I don't know if that will be possible. This will take a little thinking...

Can I just say - I fucking love DF combat. I am happy I had a little action in this short adventure. As great as Mistem is, it was a boring playthrough.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2019, 07:12:29 pm by delphonso »
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Quaksna

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #17 on: September 18, 2019, 11:03:01 pm »

I tried building adventure camp once. So, yeah. Here you go my knowledge.

1) My drunks became hearthpersons with pleasure. Not sure why, but I was already great hero in our civ, so maybe that's it.

2) It was pretty dangerous playing around my site, the game was crashing randomly in the area.

3) I retired there, after a couple of in-game days I viewed Legends, the hero moved to closest dark fortress, his greatest enemies, and became member of their civ. It was hilarious and sad at the same time...

delphonso

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #18 on: September 18, 2019, 11:16:48 pm »

Tirist is a peasant and has only killed wildlife, so perhaps that's why no one would join her. Just took a browse at Legends, and it says she is settled in Oldclasped - the nearest settlement, but playing as her starts in Brighttorch. Odd.

And yes, there was considerable lag by the end of this, which I think is a bug with camps. Luckily this tiny world is pretty fast to save and load, which I did a lot in case of crashing.

New post pretty soon - doing shorter things today. It's a very rainy day here so I'm just staying inside, drinking hot drinks, and playing DF.

delphonso

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #19 on: September 19, 2019, 01:35:27 am »

First Fort: Birutnelas: Stringflicker
Primary Goal: Create a temple to the god of songs.
Secondary Goal: Create a tavern and open it to the public.

--------------------------------

- Diary of Dastot Onoluling “Mountaincrazes”, Expedition Leader of Stringflicker

Bloody hell.

This place is a Nanir-damn mess. I don't blame anyone, I think we're all to blame for it. We've just been getting lazy over the months, and let our responsibilities slip. But gods – there's gypsum in the hallways, all the cabinets have shifted around, and there's a copper spear on the floor from some asshat who barged into our rooms and sang us songs. I'll give it to Moldath. Maybe he can pop a few langur heads off with it later.

It's about time someone took real leadership of this place and got it into shape. I'm not satisfied with the state of the dwarves here. Layabouts, all of them.

Get these bloody pigs out of the dining room! Brew up some new hooch! Get those walls smoothed out!

Ol' Rith Ivyoar gets to work at the still. She's a fine woman, dedicated to hard work and with a good head on her shoulders. She brews up some delicious wine from the purple helmets we have lying around.

Likot Flickerbook takes good care of the pigs – putting them in their place and making some cheese from their milk. She cooks up some simple stews for all of us. I can see the positive effects of all this work already.

I feel a bit of guilt. I haven't been a good servant of Nanir – god of song. Sure, we made instruments, but what are we even doing with them? Just faffing about, keeping them locked up. Gods, only one person came by to even pick them up. I'm going to build a temple to Nanir. It's decided.

Bim Fissurevault smoothes out the offices downstairs. Always been a good friend, Bim. He doesn't like being a loner, but he does it fine – working hard for days downstairs. He told me he'd like more time to make merry and party. I'll think about it.

Olon Roadface puts in the work to make a few more instruments. I'm going to ship a few back to the mountainhomes this year. Olon is a scary fellow, honestly. Never shows emotion, never seems to feel anything. I once watched him drink half a barrel of wine and not crack a smile. I've seen dwarves not feel much after seeing something die, but Olon put on a beautiful langur bone earring and didn't react. Weird one, this guy is.

I convert the dining room into a tavern – just for us citizens. Don't want the word getting out too much, now. You never know who will show up. I drop a chest in there as well so we can fill it with Olon's goblets and mugs.



Moldath Vigorgorge, the old soldier, he's over by the forge sweating up a storm. He's hammering out pipes and laluth pieces while the rest of us carry bars and ore around him. Moldath is a damn good dwarf. He knows what he's about and he's not afraid to do it. Gotta respect that kind of guy. Once he finishes that, he plows through the stone as if it were knee-high water. He digs out my temple for Nanir.

Moldath uncovers beautiful gems filling the room that will be dedicated to Nanir. The walls are sparkling with green tourmaline and schorl. Smooth it out dwarves! Make it as beautiful as you can! Nanir, god of song, deserves our respect!

Uzol Slingclashed, the old bird, she's looking worse every day. Some dwarves just can't handle the pressures of life. One langur scratched her and she can't let it go. Take Likot for example – her left ear is gone, ripped off by a monkey. But you don't see her complaining! And yet, Uzol is here just moping around all day. Maybe she can find solitude in faith. Fear not, Uzol – the temple is almost done. Put your worries on Nanir.

Uzol is at least helping, which I appreciate. She seems to find comfort in pushing a wheelbarrow around, moving stones to the stockpiles.

Meanwhile, Bim, Rith, and I smooth the walls of the temple. The walls are gorgeous, speckled with tourmaline and schorl. Snowstorms rage outside as winter passes. Moldath chisels out a couple of statues for the temple. 

I keep seeing Uzol run through the hall and into the office I gave her. When I look inside, I see she has three crowns laying on the floor. In her room upstairs, she has also claimed another crown. What an odd woman. Perhaps that's giving her some comfort, at least. I hope so.

Moldath and Bim finish the last of the smoothing as some statues are put in the temple. I didn't tell Moldath to carve anything specific, so I wonder how he planned to honor Nanir. One shows the dwarf Oddom getting his teeth knocked out by Ubbul, the forgotten beast. Clearly this is a reference to a great dwarven song that...I'm not familiar with. The other...well, this is just Bim.

You know what, it's fine. It's all fine.

I ask all the dwarves to engrave a little something in the temple. Not everyone is a follower of Nanir – but they all understand the value of music one way or the other.

Hmm. Word has it a group of elves living in a cave in a volcano nearby are looking toward us for economic leadership. Perhaps they're messengers of Nanir – the elves have always been a musical lot.

Moldath carved an image of himself which looks quite striking in the schorl gems that linger in the wall.
Bim just drew a circle – not the most creative, but a nice symbol either way.

We decorate the temple with images of beasts and animals, gems and shields, and important historical figures. Bim also put our symbol on the wall – a skink embracing a nashom.



I feel good about my accomplishments here in Stringflicker. Things are a little nicer, everyone's a little happier, and now, I think it's time to open the tavern and the temple to all just in time for Spring. Praise Nanir The Rhymes of Pantomiming!

-~-~-

I've been hearing rumors from the traders and the occasional tavern visitor. I heard about a month back, a birdman from the wilds showed up in Oldclasped and astounded everyone with its beautiful voice. Iden Ivybridge – a raven woman with a voice of molten gold, as the more poetic put it. And just now I heard of another creature: Bomrek Bridgereward – a magpie woman who can play the strings and the keyboard well enough to charm the gods.

I can't help but wonder if these rumors are true - and if they are, are they emissaries of Nanir? How could they be anything but that?

-~-~-

I came across two more rumors - this time from Drumhall. Two more avian musicians have made their roosts in dwarven cities.
Stukos Shotshades – a peach-faced lovebird man whose ability to play the horn and flute is unparalleled.
Likot Leaguebridges – a great horned owl man who plays percussion instruments so well, they've been said to move mountains.

I'll continue to listen out for these odd stories. Lead me, Nanir. Are these angels or devils?

-~-~-

You wouldn't believe this. I was just resting in my room, kicking the cabinet around for old-time's sake. I heard some unusual noise outside, so I took a peek to see if Uzol was off her rocker again, but there, in front of me, were four giant bird-people.

The whole group, calling themselves the Wings of Rock, stood in front of me and asked ME for permission to be performers of Stringflicker. Nanir, The Rhymes of Pantomiming, you do work in mysterious ways. I welcomed the four in with open arms. Great to see new faces around the fort anyway!



------------------------------------

Quite a short one, when written up. I unretired Stringflickers and made a tavern there because I wanted to make a group of adventurers and needed a tavern to retire them in - the tavern down in Brighttorch still doesn't work. The religious side just happened to make more sense - Dastot is an ardent worshipper of Nanir, The Rhymes of Pantomiming, who is the only dwarven god of song.

The goal here is to see if retired adventurers will visit forts as bards and poets. I've no idea, but we'll see! Originally, this was supposed to be Mistem, but...well...he's dead.

The four adventurers are all demi-gods with skills at least at expert in their relevant musical positions. They've all got great musicality as well. All four are worshippers of Nanir as well. This was quite a boring process really - just made each adventurer, retired them, then made the next. Finally, collected all 4 in a group. Fucked it up the first time, actually.

I actually ran into a bug during this. I was playing as Iden, had gotten Stukos and Bomrek already (as adventuring companions, not performing companions.) When I went to talk to Likot, he wouldn't join as an adventurer - I didn't have high enough reputation. But, when I tried to take him as an entertainer I couldn't perform music. No matter what, it would just say Performing in the bottom, but my character clearly wasn't. No musical signs on my character, no directions for what was happening. Stukos was duplicated - which I think is a common adventure mode bug. I eventually had to disband the whole party, get out of town, and return in order to get the band together. This also meant I had to travel back to Oldclasped to pick up Bomrek a second time.

I also ran into the "sorry, I can't join this troupe" bug again. Bomrek joined but it took a while to get Stukos and Likot in. It actually wasn't until I performed with them in The Brave Trumpets that they finally really joined. I wonder if it is performance based - or location? No clue.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2019, 01:46:01 am by delphonso »
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delphonso

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #20 on: September 23, 2019, 12:39:34 am »

Fifth Adventurer: Fath Asizmatul
Primary Goal: Train some companions in dancing.
Secondary Goal: Give as many people as possible experiences in the joys of dancing.

Ever since dances were added in DF, I've always liked them. I like the way dwarves line up and move in little shapes around the tavern. This one should be "easier" than singing to train up because dancing can include far more people.

----------------------------

If we're setting out as a dancer - we need a good name:



Fath is a solid dwarf, and incredible dancer. He wanders around Lashmurders and dances wherever there is enough room. Fath does the same in the main entryway of Stringflicker. As payment, he takes a barrel of booze with him on the way out. Fath won't remain sober for the rest of this adventure. Here's Fath in detail, if you're interested:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In the tavern of Lashmurders, he convinces a dwarf to join him on the road:


Let's see how Atis does when it's really crunch-time:


Atis seems alright at dancing. Better yet, several dwarves join in on the dancing and all seem pleased to have done so. Dancing is a lot more rewarding than singing, and I think that's for two reasons. First, the menu inputs to get to dancing is briefer than singing and music. Secondly, the visual element is stronger than music. Both dances we have are improvised line dances, which generally do a sort of wheeling motion in a line.

Atis receives his proper adventuring name:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We do a considerable amount of dancing around the dwarven towns. Some are too hilly to dance in, or don't have populated drinking mounds/civic mounds. The small hillocks are too small to dance in. I should also say that Fath spends a good amount of his dancing time on the floor from being knocked over right before the dance starts. Break-dancing is the way dwarves dance, I like to think.

Fath Flashdance and Atis Footloose kick off their Sunday shoes and head to the elven territory. It is basically impossible to dance with the elves. their trees aren't big enough to dance in, and when a tree runs aside ground, I get that bug I was getting before where it says I'm 'performing' but clearly not doing it. Frustrating, but also we run into something frightening:



I should mention, we're now in Hematite of 127, over 2 years into this experiment, and relatively, a time of great peace. At the end of Mistem's adventures, the world was actually in some sort of boom - human, kobold, dwarven, and elven populations were on the rise. I would say that the whole world is just becoming more active now, and perhaps more dangerous. I've never seen this many moving parties before, I don't think.



A night creature attacks Atis and I - slamming Footloose in his arm, scarring it severely. We manage to run off. Fath is no fighter. The two try to avoid the other parties on the map, but check out a stationary one outside of Orangerushes - the elven town. We spot a tent in the distance.



Outside is a goblin wearing some wooden armor. He explains his plight:

Do I dare double-cross the elves?


Obviously, yes. The elves have been the worst in this whole experience. Their trees have been a pain in the ass for multiple adventurers. Plus the whole issue with Legolas earlier. We free the goblin prisoner who introduces himself as Cish:



Cish lead an attack against the elves, but failed spectacularly and was taken prisoner. It seems the goblins are at war with the elves again. Interestingly enough, Cish seems to have been spawned spontaneously for this encounter because he has absolutely no history or skills at all. Pure zero, meaning dancing quickly becomes his best skill.

In the tent I find a little something for myself.


Since Cish is a prisoner who maybe people would be looking for, as we get to the human village, I give him a nickname instead.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In Fissurespots, we talk with the lord and lady, dance with them and head into the village proper, dancing with the civilians. We check out Thunderedbolts - which is now a thriving city again. Here are the only art pieces in the world:



Further down, on the floor, we see the world's only artifact.



I pick it up and place it on one of the pedestals down here. Such an interesting little world. Here, the party take a break and rest in The Chocolate of Sugars.

------------------------

Here I saved and checked everyone's skills. Since Cish has nothing, dancing is his best. No idea how I'll get him back to The Copper Goblin - the goblin civ. Atis Footloose is about 100 experience away from being primarily a dancer. I'll keep travelling and dancing with these guys. Cut the amount of time I spent trying to dance and dancing - it was a couple hours, I reckon.

I'm figuring out what to do next after these guys. I have an idea, but it seems like a stretch. I'll see what I can get up to. Really looking forward to playing fortress mode again - or at least getting in some fights.

delphonso

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #21 on: September 23, 2019, 03:50:32 am »

Alright, guys. I think I'm done. If you have any other suggestions on ways to encourage travelling bards/scholars, let me know. Otherwise, I'll start up a long-term fortress soon.

Second Fort: Thikutestun: Bookbinds
Primary Goal: Create some books for an adventurer to use.
Secondary Goal: Add an additional tavern, temple, and library to the world.

If you can't tell, I'm a bit eager to finish up this project.

-----------------------



A small group of dwarves embark right near Drumhall. Their goal? Make some books. There's only 4 books in this world, and they're aiming to increase the number of scholars, and also perhaps spread the value of music. The group calls themselves:


In respect to Stringflicker, I take the following food:


This fortress goes smoothly. We dig into the mountainside, carve out rooms and workshops and fill them with furniture. They use a mix of wooden furniture and stone - mostly for time's sake. A temple and library are carved out quickly and a dining room in the basement is made into a tavern. Not much to say, really - just did it really fast. Here's the end result:



I embarked with about 25 sheets, which are all made into quires and dropped in the library. With that, we await our hero.



-~-~-

Meet Ingish Inkypoint, the world's best writer - although she hasn't written anything yet.



Ingish runs over to Bookbinds and steals a few quires. I wanted to write in Bookbinds, but I get a message saying I have to leave first. So Ingish runs back to Drumhall and digs in.



And, this feels like a failure...
Ingish writes a musical composition and then two books about that composition. Nothing of note is really coming out of it, so I take all the books back to Bookbinds. Ingish moves in, and some dwarves are made scholars at Bookbinds. We might get more books from it in the future.

--------------------

What I wanted here was a book that was about song or the value of song. No luck - and I didn't want to pollute the world with shitty books. After trying this, I checked the wiki and it suggests dwarves cannot change ethics due to books. So, I sort of abandoned this project.

Fath and the gang retired in Bowpainted - I got Atis Footloose up to a professional dancer, with it as his highest skill.

I'm completely open to any more suggestions, because I think I've used up all my own at this point. If not, I'll start a fortress soon.


Edit:
I loaded up the most recent save in LegendsViewer and discovered the following interesting tidbits:
The Elves have launched a two-front war against the goblins and humans. They've taken over Thunderedbolts. Humans are down to 35 people in their civilization.
Boromir has joined the Elven civilization and slayed 4 creatures across a few battles.
Atis Footloose went on to disturb a tomb in the Human lands. Not sure where he ended up.
Several of the companions have no history - eventually I'll load this world with DFHack and get a better legends export.
Finally, Tirist Torchpost has managed to raise the population of Brighttorch to 3 - himself, a dwarf named As and a yak.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2019, 06:00:42 am by delphonso »
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delphonso

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #22 on: January 29, 2020, 06:49:42 am »

So I got a bit exhausted with this project and decided to take a break - then a bunch of life happened, so it kept getting pushed to the backburner. Well now my country has an epidemic so I'm supposed to stay inside all day. B)

For finality's sake, with the release of 47.01, I figured I'd finally dust off Xestsuslozgo and test out the results of all this effort.

So, without further ado,

Third Fort: Shasadiggal: Musictrap
Primary Goal: Build a tavern and wait for a tavern-goer to visit.
Secondary Goal: Don't starve to death, basically.

---------------------------------

I had made a tiny fort already, and gotten through three months. I put the finishing touches on it to get it up to snuff to keep 10 dwarves alive and then just let it run.

Musictrap built the tavern: The Hall of Songs, and its fine residents just waited, forced grin on their faces for the world's first tavern-goer.

While biding our time, we smoothed out the entire tavern area - the booze stockpile and dancehall included. With nothing left to do, the lads started carving the walls.

Autumn, and still no-one.

Starting to get a bit weary of waiting. It was 12 years last time - an not a single visitor. How long will I wait this time?

Let's meet some of the cast:

In charge of it all is Zas Shadmallolok (Confusegranite). She's got a greedy streak, but boy - she can handle stress, she can negotiate, and she know show to lead.

Other notables are Tobul Oddomlerom (Cloisterpant). She's easily discouraged, but a very accomplished social character. Despite her shyness, she's become our broker and pushes a hard bargain every season.

Just as winter hit - it happened.



This, my friends, was an amazing feeling. I had given up, honestly, and was going to call it a loss at the next caravan. I'm not sure if I really did it, or if it was just luck - but there it is - Xestsuslozgo's first tavern-visitor. He's a smith, but listed as an artist.

-----------

Well, that's it. I kept it running for a few seasons, but didn't get any more visitors.

I did some research: Goden is Goden Ecemtekkud (Tubepick) - who as of the end of 127 was a performer. Goden met Mistem and the Song Birds. I'm glad to see they made an impression on him.

Oh! Goden was one of the residents of Bookbinds. Perhaps reading a book turned him around on the prospect of travel?

So there it is. 4 years, but a successful experiment. Thanks for your patience, and sing a song sometime.

Superdorf

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - The Lord of the Sings
« Reply #23 on: January 29, 2020, 10:00:33 am »

Heyy, congratulations!
This was heretofore untrodden ground, to my knowledge. You've done a grand thing here.
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delphonso

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Re: Xestsuslozgo - Sing, Sang, Sung.
« Reply #24 on: January 30, 2020, 05:10:12 am »

Appreciate it, Superdorf. This was a fun experiment either way.

I think I may have made Goden a performer for the tavern in Bookbinds - which would be a cheap way of forcing this action, but a way, nonetheless.
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