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[MobRules]

Greetings,

Is there a way to tell how someone died? (I tried the dfhack deathcause script, but it just threw ruby errors at me.)

My legendary mason was found dead.

• Next to the well-room, surrounded by people, none of whom were injured during whatever happened.
• 
  Apparently bisected, with half of him already buried when I noticed there had been a death and half of him still up by the well. (His thoughts & preferences screen says that his "upper body is gone".) -- nevermind, see Cptn Kaladin's note further down.
• His clothing and the unburied parts of him are in a pile next to the well room, but there is no blood splatter anywhere.
• The reports don't show him fighting anything
• There is plenty of food and plenty of water
• He was NOT found "completely drained of blood", or dehydrated, or starved, or infected, or any other information on the cause of death -- just that he was "found dead."
• No drawbridges, traps, or anything else in the area that could have been the cause.
• The well goes to a cistern, the intake valve from the river has a grate, and the floodgate is closed anyway -- so nothing could have pathed in through the well
• There is no poisonous blood, secretions, or the like that he could have tracked through
• The area is only one z-level high, so there's nowhere he could have fallen from
  

This is an unmodded version of the game. I'm baffled, and I really want to know what happened here.

[Tacomagic]

Probably a fight with somebody who had a grudge against him.

[MobRules]

Probably a fight with somebody who had a grudge against him.

Wouldn't that show up in the fight reports, though?

[Mimodo]

The only thing I can think of is the act of some ghost. It's possible that any blood splatters were cleaned, although unlikely

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

Ghosts?

The "Upper body is gone" just means they died, because the upper body is what everything builds off of. It means everything is gone, but it only shows stuff closest to the center of the body. It's why when someone loses an arm they don't show a missing hand as well.

Also, try making a slab. That *should* work.

[Tacomagic]

Probably a fight with somebody who had a grudge against him.

Wouldn't that show up in the fight reports, though?

Missed the part with the empty fight report.

It's also within the realm of possibility that he fought back against a vampire and was killed in the first hit.  I think in that rare case, you don't get a report because the vampire's report invisibility squelches it.

I know that in 40.xx vampires are a lot harder to have outed by citizens.  I had one drain 3 bodies in the main meeting hall before I finally figured out who it was.  Dwarves were blissfully unaware of who was doing it.

[MobRules]

The "Upper body is gone" just means they died, because the upper body is what everything builds off of. It means everything is gone, but it only shows stuff closest to the center of the body. It's why when someone loses an arm they don't show a missing hand as well.

Ah, gottcha. The fact that there was already a coffin assigned to him threw me. I guess it was assigned when he died, not when they bring him to it?

The only thing I can think of is the act of some ghost. It's possible that any blood splatters were cleaned, although unlikely

He's my fort's first fatality that I'm aware of. To see if there might be something I missed, I went to the craft workshop to look at the "engrave memorial" menu -- the only beings listed there were the mason himself, and a bunch of ant-people (and one named crundle) from the caves.

It's also within the realm of possibility that he fought back against a vampire and was killed in the first hit.  I think in that rare case, you don't get a report because the vampire's report invisibility squelches it.

I know that in 40.xx vampires are a lot harder to have outed by citizens.  I had one drain 3 bodies in the main meeting hall before I finally figured out who it was.  Dwarves were blissfully unaware of who was doing it.

Hmm... he apparently died in front of a LOT of witnesses, but I can't come up with a better explaination right now.

(Checked the justice screen to see if it was listed as a murder, but the only criminals are four random craftspeople that didn't make the Count the trinkets he wanted.)

Off to see if I can find the telltale signes of vampirism in any of my 171 (apparently) living dwarves.

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

Yeah, coffins get assigned when someone died. You will get coffins assigned even if they burned in a magma pit.

And actually, carve a slab for him and read it. Usually they have cause of death, as long as he didn't go missing it will be there.

[Tacomagic]

The "Upper body is gone" just means they died, because the upper body is what everything builds off of. It means everything is gone, but it only shows stuff closest to the center of the body. It's why when someone loses an arm they don't show a missing hand as well.

Ah, gottcha. The fact that there was already a coffin assigned to him threw me. I guess it was assigned when he died, not when they bring him to it?

The only thing I can think of is the act of some ghost. It's possible that any blood splatters were cleaned, although unlikely

He's my fort's first fatality that I'm aware of. To see if there might be something I missed, I went to the craft workshop to look at the "engrave memorial" menu -- the only beings listed there were the mason himself, and a bunch of ant-people (and one named crundle) from the caves.

It's also within the realm of possibility that he fought back against a vampire and was killed in the first hit.  I think in that rare case, you don't get a report because the vampire's report invisibility squelches it.

I know that in 40.xx vampires are a lot harder to have outed by citizens.  I had one drain 3 bodies in the main meeting hall before I finally figured out who it was.  Dwarves were blissfully unaware of who was doing it.

Hmm... he apparently died in front of a LOT of witnesses, but I can't come up with a better explaination right now.

(Checked the justice screen to see if it was listed as a murder, but the only criminals are four random craftspeople that didn't make the Count the trinkets he wanted.)

Off to see if I can find the telltale signes of vampirism in any of my 171 (apparently) living dwarves.

When I finally caught my vampire, it was when he drained a dwarf with at least 30 others in the same room.  Nobody saw him do it but me.

[MobRules]

If it's a vampire, they're definitely more subtle than they used to be -- no one has the obvious buffed traits of a vampire. So I checked for thoughts on sleep: everyone either had a happy thought about their great bedroom, and unhappy thought about sleeping outside while hunting. The only dwarf I could find without any thoughts about sleeping is alseep right now.

I'll try engraving the slab, and see if it tells me anything.

[Tacomagic]

If it's a vampire, they're definitely more subtle than they used to be -- no one has the obvious buffed traits of a vampire. So I checked for thoughts on sleep: everyone either had a happy thought about their great bedroom, and unhappy thought about sleeping outside while hunting. The only dwarf I could find without any thoughts about sleeping is alseep right now.

I'll try engraving the slab, and see if it tells me anything.

"Urist McMason died out of pure spite to make you wonder why he was suddenly dead."

[MobRules]

AHA! Thanks for the tip to engrave a memorial to see what it says. It only tells me "died peacefully", but it also reminds me he was 155 years old -- which I believe is at the young end of the range where a dwarf can die of old age, but within the range. Memento mori, indeed.

[MobRules]

"Urist McMason died out of pure spite to make you wonder why he was suddenly dead."

That's another possibility, of course 

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

AHA! Thanks for the tip to engrave a memorial to see what it says. It only tells me "died peacefully", but it also reminds me he was 155 years old -- which I believe is at the young end of the range where a dwarf can die of old age, but within the range. Memento mori, indeed.

Wow! Old age!
That's a natural death then. Go put the slab by his coffin.

[Tacomagic]

  Natural death from old age!?  No wonder nobody figured it out!