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[Difio]

Ho!

I must say that was exactly the appearance I was looking for. Thank you very much.
Very satisfying writing you have going there QuQuasar!

Best,
Difio

[Deus Asmoth]

Wait, since when have GCSes been able to wrestle? Does that make them even more terrifying?

[QuQuasar]

Wait, since when have GCSes been able to wrestle? Does that make them even more terrifying?

From a purely mechanical standpoint, it makes them less so. Their bite is nastier, and they do it less often now, so they're slightly easier to take down.

From a roleplay standpoint, they are grabbing their live victims and wrapping them in a silk cocoon before injecting their venom to liquefy their insides and drink them.

I'll let you decide which is more terrifying.




"... yes, I'm okay. Yes, thank you Pat, I'm fine."

"I believe you. No blood on you, but plenty of the spiders. I'm told you handled yourself pretty well on the stairs too. I think the entire fortress heard you go berserk."



"No, I didn't. I just... don't like spiders. I'm sane! I check every day."

"I... didn't ask."

"Of course you wouldn't. Because I'm sane. Nobody asks a sane person if they're sane. How is she?"

"Onul? I'm... not entirely sure."



"She's got a fairly straightforward mangled hip but... she won't wake up. I can't diagnose it. Maybe some sort of allergic reaction? Did it bite her?"

"No. Maybe? I was... distracted. I don't think so."

"Are you actually concerned for her?"

"Concerned? Good heavens no! I have no need for such inefficient emotions! I just... it would be a shame to lose a good minion, that's all."

"A good minion? Her? Are we talking about the same person? She hate's you! She's fought you and your weird-ass experiments on the kids for 10 months."

"Yes... yes, she has, hasn't she? She's... the only one who has..."

"Are you okay, Professor?"

"How do we help her?"

"I told you. I don't know. I've never heard of anything like this. It's like she's... trapped within her own mind. I think it's up to her now."

"She'll come 'round. I know she will. She doesn't give up. She never gives up. She's... irritating like that."

"... are you sure you're okay. You're acting odd."

"Just let me know if she wakes up."


Out of character

DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!

Nobody will diagnose Onul! I turned off all their other labors, but they just won't do it!

I had two plotlines prepared involving Quasar and Onul: one if I accidentally got a kid killed with my experiments, the other if I didn't. But both of them require those characters up and about.

I don't have anything for "Onul stuck in the hospital because nobody will diagnose her" beyond "oh shit permanent coma".



As you can see here, I tried deconstructing the bed. I'm now trying to reconstruct it on top of her, but I've only got a month and a half left in my term and the dwarves in icehold are being more disobedient than I've ever seen any set of dwarves behave.

I'm really not sure how to end this narrative arc if Onul can't be restored to active duty. I was kind of relying on her.

Oh well. We'll have see what happens...


Experiment 8b: Observational Study of Forgotten Beast hunting behavior.
Test Subject: 1x goblin, unknown age, self-identifies as "Ngoso Ngerxungsmuksmum".
Procedure: Test subject will be 'pitted' three z-levels into the territory of "Zakosp", also known as "Dieumbras the Tomb of Ash", a towering humanoid composed of mud. The fall should damage the subjects legs, precluding escape from the forgotten beast.




Results: By SCIENCE that goblin can run fast with a broken leg.



Aaaand it's gone.

... why... why don't I care? This test was an utter failure from a scientific perspective, and yet... I just don't...


Another one?!



There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Well, at least it can't get into...



... oh.

THUGMINIONS! MY... NO, OUR SAFETY IS IN JEOPARDY!

QUICKLY! DO THE VIOLENCE AND THE STABBING TO IT!



Excellent. Bembul and Deus flanked the creature, batting it's fire away with their wooden shields as they closed the distance. A few stabs to it's legs to distract it, and then and the latter made a flying leap, driving his sword into it's brain.

I think... I think I may actually congratulate them in person. Generally such a thing would be beneath me, but after that fight with the spider, I feel a sort of... fellow feeling... with the violent simpletons of Icehold...


Experiment 9a: analysis of the physical effects of 'Kor The Deep Holes' poisonous vapors on the Dwarven physique
Test Subject: Corpulent dwarven child, 8 years old, self-identifies as "Ushrir Waspbridged".
Procedure: Subject will be entered into testing chamber to the north of Kor's trap, separated from the beast by fortifications. Hopefully, this will trigger a vaporous response from the beast.



Results:

The test subject we had prepared for the test appears to have gone missing. How strange.

The test subject had already been entered into the testing chamber, but there is no sign of it there, and I can find no evidence the child was attacked. Is it possible Kor's gas can cause the atomic disintegration of low mass test subjects? Or perhaps the subject fled the chamber and expired in the caverns after exposure?

Is there anything to be gained by performing this test again, with a different subject? I... find myself unsure of my actions, for the first time in many years.

[De]

So you've got a designated hospital and a chief medical dwarf but it looks like they won't diagnose Onul because she's on break?

[QuQuasar]

So you've got a designated hospital and a chief medical dwarf but it looks like they won't diagnose Onul because she's on break?

She's been doing that since I dismantled her bed, but they weren't diagnosing her even before that, when she was resting properly.

I swear this place is cursed: there's been all sorts of inexplicable stuff happening in Icehold ever since I took up the mantle of overseer. It's normally not this hard to work out why things are happening in Dwarf Fortress.

[Gwolfski]

if you want to get her diagnosed, try hurting her a BIT, cos the diagnose job might be gone.

[De]

Yeah, I hate it when that happens. I've also had the situation where a dwarf gets treated but the wounds stay described as red and active forever after.

[Gwolfski]

hmm, if you are intent o getting her back, and dont mind dfhack, i think there is a way to heal?

[QuQuasar]

hmm, if you are intent o getting her back, and dont mind dfhack, i think there is a way to heal?

Nah, I'll see if I can get them to diagnose her. By, uh... stabbing her repeatedly with an iron spike. Dwarven Medicine ftw!


I went looking for the test subject from experiment 9 today, and discovered a corpse in the caverns to the north of Kor's chamber. Although it is in a fairly decayed state, it is likely that this is the test subject I was looking for.
 

 
The body shows no signs of pre-mortem injury, lending evidence to the hypothesis that the subject was exposed to Kor's vapours and escaped into the caverns.
 
Unfortunately, due to the fact that no observers were on station to witness this, no solid conclusions can be drawn. Tentatively we can conclude that the vapors are lethal, despite not causing visible symptoms.
 
I regret the waste of a good test subject, and have decided to suspend further testing of Kor's vapors for the meantime. There are... more interesting tests to do. Yes. That's the reason.
 
I keep expecting Onul to storm down here to shout inane statements at me, as is her wont. Science just doesn't feel the same without her.
 

It is time to prepare the chamber for the capture of Dieumbras the Tomb of Ash, the Towering Humanoid composed of Mud. I gather a few dwarves with the appropriate skills.
 
"Minio- uh... Udib, right?"
 
"Yeah?"
 
"I need you to to carve an upward ramp into the caverns, right? Here, I've drawn a map of the location
to help supplement your limited intellect."
 
"Got it."
 
"Excellent." The Professor looked around as Udib ran off. "Black Pat, you're in charge of lever pulling. The moment the minion- Udib carves that ramp, you pull the lever to seal off the cavern. Okay? That way we can construct the rear wall in safety before opening the
chamber and allowing the beast to enter."
 
"Understood."
 
"Which just leaves you Deus. I need your violent idiots stationed in the room in case anything goes wrong."
 
"Right boss. So, do you want us to head down there now?"
 
"No rush. We should wait for Udib to head down there. She needs to carve the ramp first."
 
Pat and Deus shared a look. "Uh... boss? She left about a minute ago."
 
Quasar looked about.
 
"Oh."
 

Udib calmly carved the ramp the overseer had marked on her map, carefully chipping out the stone to leave a navigatable ramp up to the ceiling. She stood back to admire her handiwork, nodded, then swung her pickaxe at the roof over the ramp.
 
Chunks of stone, mud and cave-moss fell into the chamber, and fresh, cool air rushed in from the caverns. Udib took a deep breath in satisfaction.
 
There were shouts coming down the main staircase as more mud dripped down from the ceiling. And them more. Udib turned back in surprise as a torrent of mud suddenly collapsed into the chamber, and raised itself over her into a towering figure.
 
Ubid stared for just a moment before smiling grimly. The tool of her trade, her copper pickaxe, felt heavy in her hands. Dangerously heavy. And after all... how hard was it to dig through mud?
 
With a battle cry, she threw herself at the monster.
 

Udib Dakostudesh (impatient idiot), did well on her own for a period, swinging her pickaxe at the mud golem's lower body, tearing chunks off of it.
 

 
All things must come to an end, however, and Ubid's luck ran out after a few moments. The golem, deciding it had had enough, grabbed her by the arm and crushed it into pulp.
 

 
Luckily for her, the fight took the two of them within range of the war dog that had been chained in the room as bait. The poor animal didn't last long against the beast...
 

 
... but it lasted long enough to keep Udib from being slaughtered before Deus's thugs arrived.
 

 
In the end, enough pieces of dried mud were carved off the creature's midrift to make it possible for a savage swing by Dumed to end the fierce battle.
 

 
And all was once again calm, albeit slightly messier.
 

 
Udib has been taken to the hospital. Additionally, I am told several militia dwarves inhaled the gas emitted by the Tomb of Ash: I look forward to observing the progression of their symptoms.
 

What is up with the miners around here lately? Another of these morons has begun acting abnormally. Tulon claimed a masons workshop and is now sketching pictures of leather.


 
This leaves me with only one capable miner: I suppose we are lucky nothing major needs to be dug out at the moment.
 

Those who inhaled the gas are shivering and showing signs of fever.
 

[Deus Asmoth]

Looks like it's the end of the line for ol' Deus. Tell my wife and children that they made living in this hell hole bearable. What's that? My wife is dead and my children have vanished mysteriously? I guess I was just talking to myself all along. The mind does play tricks, I suppose.

[QuQuasar]

Tulon made an armour stand out of gypsum. Well that's a thing.



Even I must admit it is somewhat impressive, so I had it installed by the dining room entrance as a morale booster for the minions.


Deus and his fellow militiamen are not feeling so well: the fever seems to be exhausting them.



Medically, it's probably not advisable to spar aboveground in the ever-present blizzard while you have a fever. Scientifically, I see no reason to make them stop. The test is more interesting this way.

Besides, I have no reason to believe they won't live. Their symptoms are mild.


"Honeymoon! Honeymoon!"
         
It shouldn't be possible to shout a whisper, but Udil was trying it. Honeymoon turned away from her books and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
         
"Problem... with... the place... the well..."
         
"Okay, okay, slow down. Take a breath and-"
         
"Flooding!" Udil said, waving his arms frantically. "The miners broke into the cavern pools early! The Place! The lower levels! It's all flooding!"
         

         
Honeymoons eyes went wide and she stood sharply, knocking her rock throne over.
         
"You idiots! You were supposed to block it up the moment-"
         
"We tried! The lower pressure gates were too tight! The water overflowed before we could block it off!"
         
"This is bad. We could lose the forges... the bar stockpiles... everything! We need to get down there and brick it up before..." her eyes caught a figure making a beeline across the dining hall for her. "Oh no."
         
"Honeymoon! You're vaguely more intelligent than the average around here," said the overseer. "Do you have a moment to discuss-"
         
"No, professor! Far too busy right now!"
         
The overseers smile hardened slightly. "Come now, I'm your overseer. What could possibly be more important than-"
         
Honeymoon made a split-second decision. She didn't have time to rationalise it, so she went with her gut.
         
"A mistake was made. The lower levels are flooding. If we are to save the forges, we need as many people down there to seal the area off as we can get."
         
To her relief, the professor didn't hesitate or even bother with questions. "Minions! On me! To the lower levels!"
         
         
"Brick it up! Make it watertight!"
         
"Udib! I need you to to dig west until I tell you to stop! Then a staircase upward!"
         
"Honeymoon! There's kids in there!"
         
"Test subjects? Good heavens, what were they doing down here?"
         
"I know! Udib, stop! Dig upwards!"
         
"I'm through!"
         
"Block up that tunnel before it floods any further!"
         
"It's too deep! The water's running too fast!"
         
"Keep trying dammit!"
         
         

         
"Excellent! The deluge is contained. Good work, minions. But... what is this place, Honeymoon? It doesn't show up on any of your maps. And why are so many of my test subjects down here?"
         
Honeymoon's mind had been running on adreneline for the last hour. She hadn't given any consious thought to what she would tell the overseer, but her subconsious had been working on the problem and presented her with the words she needed.
         
"We call it the Place. It's... it's an experiment, professor."
         
"An... experiment?" the professor narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What sort of experiment?"
         
Honeymoon turned towards the professor, making eye contact. "Isolation. We are- our hypothesis is that if the chil- test subjects are isolated from the rest of Icehold, they will be unaffected by the... criminal pathologies of Icehold."
         
Professor Honoredglaze stared suspiciously at Honeymoon for a long moment, before his eyes glazed in thought. "Criminal pathologies... by Armok you're right! I'd wondered why there were so many insane children in icehold. That's a brilliant deduction, Honeymoon!"
         
Honeymoon smiled. After carefully managing an entire cartel, the professor was easy to steer. Just point him in the right direction, and he would come to the conclusion you wanted him to on his own.
         
"Well, this embarassing flooding incident notwithstanding, I am impressed! Perhaps my standards have been lowered by my time here, but seeing that my scientific prowess has rubbed off on you has thoroughly cheered me up! I feel much better!"
         
"Well I'm flattered sir, but I'm not the one who set all this up. I just helped, you understand."
         
"You're not? Then who?"
         
"Onul Battleglazes, sir."
         
There was silence for a few moments as the professor stared at Honeymoon in apparent shock. He swallowed and glanced away.
         
"She was always shouting at me. I had... I had no idea she was a fellow scientist."
         
He grit his teeth in determination.
         
"Well then! We need to wake her up so she can bring this experiment to it's conclusion! To the hospital!"
         

Overheard in the dining room

"Hahaha! I killed a forgotten beast with a single punch! Tremble before me!"



"You're embarassing yourself. It was made of snow."

"Don't care! Totally killed a forgotten beast! Bow before Cilob, slayer of forgotten beasts!"

         
"You are insane," said Black Pat in a dull voice, staring at the contraption that had been added to her hospital. It was brutal in it's simplicity.
         
"Absolutely not! I check every day!" said Quasar excitedly, testing the mechanism. "Although I will certainly admit I have been rather out of it lately. I was too afraid of hurting Onul to save her!"
         
"There's no way this is going to work."
         
"No, no that's the thing: it's a scientifically verified method! The medical literature is very clear on the matter: a surge of adreneline, caused by sudden pain or injury, is capable of flushing out the humours, kickstarting the brain and awakening the subject from a coma, hahaha!"
         
"Just to be sure... you're not making this up? There's really a book somewhere that says this?" Honeymoon said nervously.
         

         
"Exactly! Haaahaha!" said Quasar, carefully moving the menacing iron spike over Onul's sleeping form. Honeymoon winced at the sight of several kilograms of iron spike pointed downwards at a sleeping dwarf. "Pat, Honeymoon: be ready to diagnose the wound! Igor!"
         
"Yeth marthter?"
         
"Stand by next to the lever. Is everyone ready?"
         
"No."
         
"Nup."
         
"No, marthter."
         
"Excellent!! PULL THE LEVER!!! AAAAAARRRRHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!"
         
*CLANG*
         

         
"Huh. Well, that didn't work," said Honeymoon. "Perhaps we should remove her armour?"
         
"What? No! Just... pull it again," said Quasar, going bright red at the suggestion.
         
"Yeth Marthter,"
         
*CLANG*
 

       
"Yeah this isn't working. Pat, perhaps if we..."
         
"Pull it one more time!"
         
*SQUITCH*



"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHH!"
         
"MWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! SHE'S ALIVE!!! SHE'S ALLLLIIIIIIIIVVVEEEEE!!!!"
         
         
Onul gradually awoke, pulling herself out from a nightmare of pain and screaming. She looked about her. The hospital. Okay, so something had happened to her. Nobody else was here.
         
The giant cave spider. She had fought it to keep it from attacking anyone else, and then it had grabbed her, wrapped her tightly in it's silk, and then... her hip. One of it's legs had crushed her hip, and she'd lost consiousness. The last thing she remembered was an unarmoured dwarf with a silver mace diving towards the thing...
         
So then, if it had broken her hip, why did her arm hurt?
         
There was an iron crutch waiting by her bed. She stood, putting her weight on it, feeling weaker than she ever had in her life. How long had she been lying in bed?
         
Honeymoon entered and caught her eye.
         
"You're up," she said simply.
         
"Yes," said Onul. "How long was I out?"
         
"Better part of two months," the younger dwarf said in a matter-of-fact tone. Onul winced at the news. No wonder her muscles felt stiff.
         
"I want some answers. Everything that happened while I was out. How is the..." she lowered her voice. "How is the Place coming along?"
         
"Finished. Got the last of the tables and chairs in this morning."
         

         
"Finished? How on earth did you manage that so quickly without the overseer knowing?"
         
"Well... sit down. There's some things you need to know about."
         
         
"What! Why would you tell that madman that?"
         
"That 'madman' saved your life," Honeymoon chided. "Twice."
         
"But now he knows about the Place... the kids..."
         
"Yes. And he wants it to go ahead. He's agreed to help us isolate the kids. He see's it all as a big decades-long experiment."
         
"And he doesn't interrupt an ongoing experiment..." said Onul faintly, remembering what Limul had told her.
         
"Precisely. And... there's another thing you should know. A childs corpse was found in the caverns one and a half months ago."
         
"What? He killed a child?!"
         
"No. We worked out later what had happened. When that firebreathing termite arrived three months back we had the caverns sealed off, and forgot to open them again. The child starved to death outside. It was a tragic accident, nothing more."
         
Honeymoon paused for a moment before continuing, watching Onul's reaction.
         
"But the professor... he thought he had killed the kid. And gotten you hurt by not getting to you fast enough. Between that and your injuries... I saw genuine regret. Sadness. I don't think even he knew what it was he was feeling. I gather it was an emotion he'd never experienced before."

Onul stayed silent, waiting for Honeymoon to finish.

"He's a long way from being a good person... we all are here, every one of us... but there is a spark of it in him."
         
"It... it feels weird to hear somebody talking about goodness here in Icehold."
         
"It doesn't matter to most of us here, Onul, but I thought it might matter to you."
         
Onul nodded. "Thank you. I suppose it does."
         

Onul winced in pain as she made her way down the neverending staircase, leaning heavily on her iron crutch as she did so.

A figure was coming up, followed by the sound of barking and a tide of dogs.

She hesitated as he stopped on the stair below her, then said "Professor."

"Onul."

She narrowed her eyes.

"I can't fight any longer. So I intend to protect the Place. I intend to ensure those children are protected there, away from the rest of this prison, from you and those worse than you. You cannot stop me."

"No need to explain, Onul!" he said happily. "Your test is inspired, you know? And I wouldn't dare interfere with a colleagues experiment. I only wish you'd trusted me to help you with it!"

"Uh right," Onul gave him a lopsided smile. "You're mad, you know that?"

The professor grinned back. "Of course. I check every day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an overseership to surrender."

The professor left. Onul shook her head in puzzlement. He had done terrible things, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to hate him anymore.

Oh well. She'd have plenty of time to sort out her thoughts in the Place.

She continued down the staircase, towards the sound of laughing children.


Save here: [to be uploaded later tonight, when I have access to my other machine]

Notes:

Sorry for taking an extra 6 days in the spring: I really wanted to get Onul into the Place and lock her in (she's really slow and it's a really long staircase), but at the last moment she decided to turn back (she's *really* disobedient), and then a siege arrived, at which point I gave up.



The drawbridges are closed, so the siege can't get in. They can shoot dwarves who are going to the surface to dump things, though. Be careful about that.

Pretty much everyone is on dumping duty, with all their other labors turned off. I kind of neglected refuse dumping during my turn, so I tried to get it all taken care of in the last month. It didn't work.

Final statistics:

Goblins Murdered: 20
Goblins Escaped: 2
Trolls Murdered: 10
Giant Cave Spiders Murdered: 2
Forgotten Beasts Arrived: 5
Forgotten Beasts Murdered: 8
Vampire Queens Annoyed: 1
Baron Imposters Murdered: 1
Children killed by science: 0
Children driven insane by science: 3
Children killed by negligence: 1
Adamantine Spires Flooded: 1

[QuQuasar]

Unleash the save!

http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=11236

Of course, now we've gotta find a new overseer. Anyone up for it? We've got goooblllliiiins!

[Sanctume]

Peeking in for interest, but not committing yet, still reading.

[De]

Shameless bump.

Come on people, somebody must have more time than me.

Oh I get it... nobody dares to follow a turn like QuQuasar's.

[Deus Asmoth]

I mean... I'm free, but I was the third last turn so it doesn't seem fair.