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[DonPerotti]

So I have just returned recently returned to playing DF since probably 34.07(?) I've no idea how the secrets and necromancers thing works but according to the wiki:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[...]Artifact slabs can be found in vaults throughout the world. Although extremely well-guarded, your dwarfs can perform raid missions to capture them and bring them back to your fortress.
https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Slab

[...] worshiping a deity (or a creature with the [SUPERNATURAL] tag) who has a [DEATH] sphere. Once the deity/supernatural creature becomes an object of ardent worship to the figure, it will award the worshipper with an artifact slab containing the secrets of life and death. The worshipper will then claim the slab and learn its secrets, thus becoming a necromancer. This original necromancer may then take up an apprentice (another creature seeking immortality), who will obtain the knowledge of its master. A necromancer can take more than one apprentice.
https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Necromancer#The_Origin_of_Necromancers

A little context: I embarked on a forest with no elevation (all 0's), having lost my previous fort to a procedural creature because the puny drawbridge that I'd installed on my small above ground keep wasn't fast enough I tried again (on a different world all-together, but same type of embark) but this time I made sure to rush a safety lock-down measure with multiple bridges and cage trap lines, and making a very large path from the entrance to the actual fortress so there's a chance to trap whatever evil is running rampant in between 2 drawbridges, or to at least limit the damage, I also chained a dog to the entrance so my dwarves don't spot enemies only once they are 2 tiles from the entrance, like it happened last time.

To simplify my defense setup: 4 draw bridges segmenting the entrance into 2 short corridors at the ends and a large area in the middle to pasture the grazers.

Such measure's paid off as whatever this creature (I'd say it's a titan(?)) was, it got spotted as soon as it entered the map, the alarm was raised and everyone ran for their lives to the heart of the fortress, everyone got to safety in time, the creature didn't even breach the first corridor, It mutilated the poor dog who had been chained to the entrance and proceeded to hang around it for months, by this point i had 50 dwarves inside so i figured I'd just stayed locked down until steel gear and proper training could be provided to deal with the creature.

An elven caravan arrives, they manage to bruise it before getting slaughtered, nothing new under the sun.

Then 20-something migrants arrive, they don't manage to slay the terror before all falling but they do break most of It’s bones and cause several wounds.

One thing I forgot to mention is that all this time the liaison has been hanging around the fort and is now trapped, fearing he'll go insane i decide that maybe i can lure the beast into the middle, or preferably the entry-segment and raise the bridges to keep it trapped and maybe throw it at the first goblin siege, figure I'd let 2 problems take care of each other, He walks in, steps on a cage trap and get captured, which I did not expect.

Lock-down ends the beast is hauled up inside and ghosts start to haunt the fortress, it takes me months to get everything back on track.

Then I look onto my animal stockpile and realize that the creature has died, and that there's another item in the same tile:


But the thing is this slabs seems to have been given to a Titan(?) After it died while caged on one of my stockpiles, the wiki says Titans are trapavoid but this creature got itself caged after being severely wounded by one of many unfortunate migrants that arrived while the fortress was still on lockdown, I've no idea what it is, I don't think it is a were-something as those are trap-avoid as well (lost my previous fort to one for not knowing that)

It also killed a goblin mercenary that was with the ill-fated elven caravan, I swear I saw the ghost of the goblin near the cage shortly before the cage changed from the tileset's icon to a letter indicating a corpse, maybe the ghost scared the wounded creature to death?

Maybe the creature had the tablet on it before arriving and then it dropped it? But why does it say it was awarded for all kills that happened during my playtime (story-gen ended at 250)

I've no idea what happened, much less what to do with the tablet now, thoughts?

Edit: I'm a moron the name ettin was so alien to me that I just assumed it was a procedurally generated creature, I guess this means an ettin got granted the secrets of life and death while in my fortress as a reward for rampaging through?, also there was no goblin ghost the guards of the human caravan have just decided to follow in the footsteps of our stemmed liaison

[PatrikLundell]

Slabs with the secret are given to necromancers by their gods, and I don't think ettins can become necromancers, so I'd expect the ettin stole the slab from a necro tower and then used it as a weapon to slay the members of the elven caravan (and your migrants).

It can be noted that slabs can't be read by dwarves, so your fortress population won't be converted into necros from you having it available (I believe adventurers can read slabs, though).

[Moeteru]

The list of kills you see on the slab is just a list of creatures/people who have been killed using the slab. You would see the same list if it was a steel battle axe or a pair of trousers. You even see a similar list of kills if you view the description of a minecart which has been involved in fatal collisions.
The ettin was carrying the slab when it entered the map, and has been using it as a crude melee weapon to bludgeon people to death with. It probably acquired it by attacking a necromancer tower during world-gen.

EDIT: As for what to do with the slab, it's fairly useless as far as game mechanics go. You can install it as a building in your fort, the same way you'd build an engraved memorial slab, but your dwarves won't read it. When I had a similar thing happen I just installed mine in the library. If you later visit your fort as an adventurer you can read it and become a necromancer.

[DonPerotti]

Right, I used to play with no invaders back then, so I'm not all that familiar with the combat system, in regards to the slab, I guess the ettin learnt that the secret to death is just beating people over the head with the slab, and the secret to life was not stepping on a cage trap

[recon1o6]

titans stealing slabs seems to be a common thing

over in community games the fort of smallhands had a megabeast arrive wielding two of them. they were put inside a secret chamber behind an impregnable artifact door.