The inner thoughts of an Undying OverseerNogood Manorcircles, half-ghoul who really wishes the “undying” part wasn’t so literal right nowIt has been nearly two years since that ill-fated battle against the necromancers’ minions left me dead in every meaningful way. My limbs lie useless at my side. My blood burns, stagnant and screaming for air, but I cannot force my lungs to take a breath. I have no voice, and I must scream.
And yet, I am learning to master my suffering. You can become accustomed to anything given enough time I suppose. I have taught myself to close out all external stimuli until I am just a tiny ball of self in a vast black sea. It is remarkably similar to what I remember of being a ghost. Remaining in this state, I start to see lines of energy flowing between me and other glowing nodes. This must be the power of life and death, the strings that tie me to my failing body. The slabs appear as two burning stars in the void. I see the captive necromancers as well, their veneer of dwarvenness worn away leaving only sharpened spikes of hate and madness. Looking further, I see… is that an alpaca?
Never mind that. What’s important to me now are the smaller nodes, the ones that belong to my ghoulish brothers and sisters. If I can just reach out to them, extend my will through our shared undead lineage… maybe… Yes! I can communicate with them! They shall be my hands, eyes and ears in this new existence.
1st Granite, 167Smallhands has seen better days, but also far worse. The militia is in shambles due to successive losses and reorganizations. The Gravewardens have been populated with useless fodder and the Rainbow Raptors never returned from their raid on Sinewsabres. Fortunately, we still have two able-bodied legendary warriors, Tosid and Dumed. They were relieved of duty when the Gravewardens were repurposed into a meat grinder by the last overseer, but I’m reinstating them now. The only other melee dwarves of any skill are Recon and Deduk, and they have the fever. Seems like no one has been training for years. Probably all cave adapted. We’ll need to rely on our archers and traps for the time being.
I’m passing on my title of militia commander to Tosid. I’m in no shape to lead anyone in battle, and she’s always been the best soldier I could hope for. I know she’ll be able to return the Wardens to glory if anyone can.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of our population are now ghouls. I suppose I should be grateful for this, even if it is the result of a horrific campaign of mass murder. Unfortunately, these ghouls seem to lack the single-minded devotion that I had. They still cling to mortal needs and desires, becoming distracted when they can’t satisfy them. Most worrying is their inability to speak and socialize. They will stand around for days in mute silence while desperately trying to mimic social activities now lost to them.
Looking around further, the fort seems to be running mostly well. Although we do have an absurd number of caged prisoners and animals…
Speaking of prisoners, I’ve reinstated King Zultan. Of course, there’s the matter of the crimes which lead to her dismissal. She’ll receive a letter bearing my seal that should clear that
all up.
28th GraniteI attempted to reach out to one of the living dwarves like I have been able to do with the ghouls. My thoughts seem to have affected her in some way, but not in any way I can control.
7th SlateJewel chains, shackles of the gods. Seems she got the gist of my recent feelings. A fitting tribute to Wheevilmessiah. It shall serve the Temple of Puppets well.
I haven’t been able to reproduce this result in any other dwarves. Perhaps Ineth was already primed to produce such an artifact and I just gave her the right push.
I don't see the reason you cannot do that right here?
Speaking of, does ghoul resurrection regenerate body parts? I was under the impression that it doesn't.
Part of what I'm thinking might require a new world generation - intelligent undead are meant to get powers from resurrection - in adventure mode they definitely gain one per "type". I'm not sure if our necromancers give those out or if they are just unavailable in fortress mode.
Missing body parts remain missing. Smashed parts should not heal, but I'm not sure about when they're re-alived.
The forlorn ghouls have the hide/invisibility power. It makes them un-targetable and extremely dangerous for adventurers, but I’m not sure if it has any effect in fort mode. If you can find a necromancer that learned from the other slab (only Sive Namedauras so far) they might have a different form of intelligent undead they can raise.
The intelligent undead keep whatever injuries they had on death but heal as a living dwarf would once resurrected.
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Topic: Smallhands - nearly 40 years and still tiny! (Read 407019 times)