Mostly because I don't have any money. Nothing real important to this thread I suppose. It just delayed me a couple hours trying to not go to court and risk everything I own (or will own, since I own nothing.)
Post Humus journal of Erica Wheelcircles the Legendary Die-rOnce again I haven’t bothered to write over a long period. I was actually rather busy directing work. Today is the 8th Limestone, Early Autumn, 539.
During the last half of Felsite, Catlalyst managed to escape her cell, unlocking the door somehow. The living were frightened when they finally spotted her; Gizogin and Darvi taking shots at her with their crossbows. I actually had them all stationed downstairs to give Catalyst the chance to escape back to her cell, but none of them did exactly as they were told. There was much running amok and catalyst hiding in various rooms on her way out in order to avoid conflict, being shot when she failed, but she eventually met Scaraban on the courtyard catwalks, who had been trying to steal one of her admittedly delicious longland seed roasts for his lunch. She wasn’t happy and they almost got in a fistfight, but she eventually left for her cell, where she was locked inside and has remained since. The living built a wall to contain her from fear. She did leave all of her military gear (and most of her clothing…) outside, where it remains. She’s been whining about wanting her pants back since then but nobody has had time to arrange for this. She’s also intent on conducting a meeting with one of the various liaisons waiting outside her doorway now.
The time since then has been uneventful for the living; everyones been carrying out their hauling duties and that Aussie-dwarf has even practiced a little farming and brewing. For the dead though, a grand scheme was concocted; Since we know that the coffins and slabs are divine symbols that keep most of the dead from even gathering energy to begin manifesting, we must destroy them when the time comes that there are no living in the fortress. Unfortunately this must also be performed by the living, so it’s a bit of a last-dwarf-out-slams-the-door thing.
The plan is to have all the dead, sane or not, entombed in the catacombs near the surface, and the much larger catacombs underground. I’m engineering a system that will cave in all of these on cue (from the control room), thus destroying all the coffins, bodies, and slabs, in turn releasing the slumbering dead to fight our last battle. There will of course be many too far gone or enraged to assist, but since they have coalesced no energy I feel that those of us currently free can deal with them rather easily and save the others. I intend to have it all linked to that artifact hematite lever that’s coincidentally linked to everything else that could possibly go wrong in this place. Should make for an eventful last day on Aluonra for the living, and probably set up a more energetic battlefield for us spirits.
I drew diagrams of this;
I call it the Strategic Ghost Emitter System. As stated, we will need at least one living, sane, and functional dwarf to pull the lever, and probably the next couple years to set it up.
Work has begun by digging out the necessary components and removing and reinterring the dead around the fortress to ensure that all of us are at these locations, ignoring a very few outcasts. Migrants came recently and were put to work; a metalcrafter named Kirby and a woodcutter who bears the nickname Deathsword. I am aware of two other Deathswords, already dead, so for all purposes I’ve designated this one with three bars. Deathsword III has since been ordered to take up mining since Mormota was on break for the whole season and that Aussie-dwarf guy and Zasit, the woman I possessed, are rather slow miners.
Fall has been uneventful. The human caravan that arrived hasn’t been permitted inside (despite no ambushes slaughtering them…) so there was no chance to seize there goods. I expect the dwarven caravaneers, amazingly still operating in this even more dangerous world, might get a chance at it, though. And bring another liaison to waste our time… I should force them to work for us…
The dead mason Etur has been spending vast tracts of time with Catalyst, for whatever reason. They seem to like each other. Makes me wonder if the gods would permit ghosts to marry… Or will there be any gods when this is over? Lur made it seem as though there would be a shortage of deities, and spirits like us may be able to take their place. I should hope I survive the battle ahead...
In the meantime I and the spirit of Ledi have been playing with some living groundhogs we found mysteriously not drowning in a fully submerged tunnel, open to the ocean though they are actually a couple stories underground. I suspect Led or her goddess of death of causing this, but I can’t actually find any clues to show what’s going on. We can’t possess soulless or overly powerful beings, either way. They don’t even seem to mind that they’re inhaling only water. None of the other spirits had any comment on this. Arcangelsd hasn’t come down from his tower and shoos away anyone that wants to talk to him. Makes one wonder what the hell he could be doing.
Does… anyone else hear carnival music? No? I must be going insane…
Wait a minute, that's the sound of Darvi drowning as he tries to shut off the STFO... Welcome to the Palace of the Dead, Darvi. Please don't go insane. I'm gonna have to try something else...
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Well, the S-GES should be fully functional sometime during the next year, though getting the dwarves to move everything may be more of an issue. The next overseers' problem to ignore, really. I have absolutely no clue how to safely or productively continue the STFO, and am considering shutting it down for the moment to increase overall FPS, which is at 12, and stable. I'm rather proud of my processor, even though I'm trying to save enough money to replace it with a better one (per core, and hopefully with more cores.) RAM and video memory/processing seem to be my biggest issues lately.
The STFO is insanely deadly. It should lie along the path into the fort for invaders. Kirby successfully shut it down, but my fps hasn't increased. Oh well. Two accidental STFO related deaths/turn is enough...