A SHRIEK OF ASH AND FIRE 1(WIP) [approx 220K UPDATE, 1.43 Million TOTAL-27th September 2025] (1.48 Million on Patreon)

No problem! Little things like this one is the least us readers can do for the pleasure of reading cool stories, I think. Double useful for me, I use my IF hobby as a motivation training for learning English better.
And yeah, I aligned myself with Raith, so he indeed tagged along xD
If I spot anything else, I’ll post it. But later, its 3 in the morning where I live and I have work in 6 hours, ha.

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Damn, again with missing reply button. Actually, I remember another strange thing. It’s not bug per see, but.. in Fort Ard, choosing the ‘Find a more refined establishment to take the load off’ –> if in relationship with Raith, you can have a dinner with him. And after some… personal time with him I walked away in the morning with him being alive, but still got the ‘At some point, the Lord’s body will be found. You can only guess at when someone will realise that he’s not in a deep slumber, but that he will never wake again’ sentense, no matter what happened after dinner. Kind of weird.
Hope this helps too!

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Aight, so I also wanted to ask if there is an art corner or some pictures/drawings which show the different kinds of ash crawlers for every faction alongside other machines like steam boars?

Is there images for that? No matter if they are ai generated or not?

Edit: I love the lore bits in the stats screen :ok_hand:

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It is with joy that I wield my blustercrank to slaughter those bugs in a timely spray of viscera!!!

I get the kills, but you get the assists for those 2, @Vertigo1 ! As you said, the issue was an incorrect variable (multiple times) and an error of repeating text.

Wow, that is a challenge for learning English, going through code in a game full of made-up words! Also, slang-heavy, stereotypical ‘Artful Dodger’ accents here. And Vin is known to fragment his sentences.

For whatever reason, you tried my game. Big thanks for the help and for giving it a go. It is very difficult to find these things on my own.

@Zahmed

Glad that you liked the lore. I eventually decided that this was a necessity, so as not to overwhelm players, particularly those who hadn’t played Green. I feel they give a bit of background, but don’t overly explain things.

I only have the title image to ‘suggest’ what a crawler looks like, and that is my own concoction, a mix of a dreadnaught, tank and the Technodrome. I want to draw some vehicles and the crawlers, but when I try, I cannot do them justice. My artistic skills are very limited. I do picture steeds, drays and carriers as sort of Mad-Maxy, at least those in the Road Fleet.

So, no art for these yet. I will try to throw something together for the vehicles and crawlers, but would love for anyone to conjure up an image of their ideas for these things. As a note, anything made with AI cannot be used in the final game. But if someone can draw a crawler/vehicle and it fits in with my own efforts, I might use it. Of course, I would ask permission first and give credit in the final game.

There are 12 crawlers, 6 Behatland Union, 6 Cold Pact, though one of the Cold Pact crawlers has already been destroyed.

Of the 6 Behatland Union Crawlers, 4 are Ardland-built. These would all have a similar look. One is built by the dwarven states of the Union and one, using the financial coordination of the Royal Rump, is a grand collective effort of all Union states.

Of the 5 remaining Cold Pact crawlers, 3 are Yonderfolde built, so they will have undead ‘stuff’ mixed in with the metal. The remaining 2 are built by Brimstone’s Goad. One is, almost literally, a vast anvil which moves even more slowly than the Despair’s Demise and, though smaller than that, is far heavier and denser.

There are 3 uncompleted crawlers. One for Krog’s Gift, which just never worked and fell apart. One for Nagaswelt, which was not really a crawler but a large, ash, wood and magic-made levitating war machine. The Nagarese lacked the resources and expertise to finish this.

Currently, another crawler, Basilisk One, is being built by Ardland. Apparently, it doesn’t need a crew, though it is all very secretive.

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QUICK UPDATE 26th August 2025

I have added some hints to the player notes page, available from the stats screen, directing you on how to find various ROs. Most are path-dependent.

As we know, ROs are not the main focus, but each is different, and some of you may be interested in finding them.

From what I read, our MCs seem to like Gibleti, or Raith or Revira the most- so totally sane and healthy then! Although several like the warm-hearted, wholesome Tinnafri. Humanity has a hope!

EDIT: Big thanks to the player who suggested adding a few hints. I have been asked about how to find some of the ROs several times, and I think a little guidance in the game will be helpful.

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Solid Gold

Found an error when tapping player notes in stat screen.

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AAAAARGH!

brb!

@Zahmed

Presto! Here’s your gold mate: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin:

Such a schoolboy error, I wrote *Notes…….. but choicescript is very demanding of asterisks and doesn’t just let them hang around making visual points.

Cheers!

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Definitely enjoying the sequel so far! Just a few thoughts and minor bugs.

My snake mage became a bit of a stat monster, especially because I didn’t head out straight away and learned mechanics from Tinnafri.

The timer in Zuan’s office is bugged, allowing me to do everything there.

Used magic to deal with the robbery, but it sounded like I’d beaten them up when I recruited them. Perhaps a joke about his foot as an alternative?

Pretty sure I should have been able to encounter Blackwood in the underdeck,s think something might be up with that encounter. The king called my male character by both genders after I accused his daughter with damning evidence.

Keep up the excellent work!

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@BismDweller

Great stuff. I have lessened the ingenuity bonus after visiting Tinnafri, but given the player the tinkerer skill, allowing them to pass most ingenuity checks.

During the office event, you are now more likely to be found, unless you have the sneaker arm, if you take your time. Each option will disappear after picking it.

Fixed the issue with misgendering in the encounter you mentioned.

To encounter Blackwood, you must visit the Rusty Radiator after checking out the marine ether orb feeds in the middeck. Then look for him on the middecks, during a later visit, to find his disgruntled minions. Then you can find him on the underdecks, but only after your first visit. He is tricky to find.

(He is a deliberate red herring timesink.)

You get loads of gold!!! :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin: :coin:

Please help me locate the robbery. Can you describe where/when this happened? I am at a loss and can’t find or remember it!

Once I have a look at this event, I will update the scene files on CogDemos.

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I was talking about Miles and Matilda. They tried to rob me in the town before the fighting broke out, then I took the narrow stairway.

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Got it!

Massive appreciation. The game is so big now that I often have problems locating things. Dealing with bugs and discrepancies like these makes it better for every future player- and me :slight_smile:

I will upload the changed scene files presently.

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Okay, it’s been a minute. Been away for a bit this month. I will post an update before the 5th of next month. It should be later this month (September), maybe in a week or so. It will be a continuation of the Road Fleet’s journey westward, where the wasteland strikes back!!! :scream: The update is titled ‘The Sum of Your Fears’.

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I really hope that the game will have a big evil path, possibly connected with demons and world conquest

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Hi,@Alex_Pug

Welcome to Zthullu! Cheers for giving my game a try.

Much of this game, Book 1 of 2, is about our MC rising to a position of influence and shaking off the tendrils of childhood innocence. The full scale of their heroism, mastery, or terror will have to wait for Book 2, for when they return to Behatland with influence and power (though some will be more influential and powerful than others). There will certainly be many acts of conquest here! However, the choices we make in this journey, in Book 1, will set the foundation for this.

While I don’t want to have an absolutely clear-cut evil/good route, some routes will lend themselves more to potentially greater evil. The Abhidhar of Zthullu routes puts you on a path of possible demonic corruption. In a roundabout way, to maintain our MC’s individuality (else this route would become a novel), the Basilisk route may result in a machine overlordship of unthinking drones. Also, becoming a grovelling minion for one of the Evagrey twins will not lead to a place of kindness and smiles.

BUT the route I will soon start expanding, the Cold Pact route, will place us in the nominally evil faction—although there is no true ‘good’ faction. This is the realm of necromancers and supremacist dwarves. We will be able to embrace a darker shade of grey here, although it has nothing to do with demons. Demonic undead are slightly different from magical undead in this world. Magical undead retain a semblance of wit and soul. Some of our MCs will experience this firsthand.

I hope all of these will be interesting and entertaining and provoke multiple playthroughs.

EDIT: I noticed that this is your first post. Welcome to the community, fellow Roachpede! Loads of great stuff to find here.

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Yes, this is my first time here, although I’ve read several games, and I really liked your first one. It’s great when a writer takes their game so seriously, writes quickly, and releases updates frequently. There’s no need to strictly divide the world into good and evil, but for me, evil is when the protagonist’s morals are corrupted, for example, when they believe that sacrificing people to demons for power is good. In that case, it no longer seems like stupid evil, since to the protagonist, there’s no evil in it at all. The character has a goal, and their distorted morality reflects this, although to others, the character may appear terribly evil. This is a simple example, but this theme can be developed more deeply, and the motivation for evil acts, like the evil acts themselves, can creep up gradually and unexpectedly. A necromancer sacrificed his life by turning into a lich to fight the great evil of demons that threaten the world, but having lost humanity and emotions, the character himself became the main threat to the world, etc. I’d like to see more of this in games.

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Great post. Yes, I agree. In our own history, the most evil acts always came with excuses that it was for a collective good, at least for a certain group. We also have the fact that small evils may lead to a greater good, or at least be excused in this way, or we have acts of ‘good’ used to promote a greater evil. Does our MC help their friends, even if this results in greater harm to the world? Do we let our nearest and dearest suffer for the benefit of many more strangers?

Pure self-interested ambition, cloaked as it usually is, is often portrayed as evil, particularly if there is no regard for the consequences.

Our MC starts off as someone who is loyal to their friends and gang. They are not an angel, yet they clearly are not evil in any sense. They are a petty criminal. But their moral compass is not yet formed. Through Book 1, we are, in many senses, creating their moral compass, the consequences of which will reach their full heights in Book 2.

Cheers for playing my first game! Glad you enjoyed it! Please feel free to continue sharing your ideas. I do record them, and they help guide me as I go forth into the ash.

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Will you Will we see the old lady of fate on the train at the beginning of the game?

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Hi,@Mahalalel

You mean for the cheat mode?

Not yet. That will be one of the last things I do, but we will get it; the Lady of Fate will appear in our dreams, or something like that, to give us an option for cheating! I know you and many others want it; however, it is low on the development priority list.

I plan to implement it once the whole game is done and we enter our final testing months. This way, I know players will experiment more with the entire game and, just maybe, find helpful info for me about bugs and the like. This is extremely difficult for me to do by myself, and this game will be longer than Green!

At the same time, I will put in a checkpoint saving system, similar to Green. This will make death far less frustrating and allow experimentation. Also, there are far fewer scenes and choices leading to a sudden death here than in Green.

I do have many advanced ‘TESTER START’ options to skip to newer parts of the game, which will not be in the final version. Also, the stat checks in this are far less brutal than in Green, provided that you play to your strengths.

Lady Fate is on her way, mate. Unless the world gets unlucky and ends first!

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UPDATE 15 (approx 70k, 1.43 Million words total- 27th September 2025)- THE SUM OF YOUR FEARS

Hi, snake-wielding mages and greasy dray drivers,

We rejoin the Road Fleet as they rage ahead of the crawler to find the Dragonlander Colony. Zthullu is not accommodating.

*Relax in camp with your mates before you probe the deepest reaches of the wastes.

*Take one of 2 routes, each presenting its own hostile encounters.

*Defend the crawler from an attack by the Silver Angels.

*Fall into the grasp of corruption as the ash continent makes one final play, not with a physical attack, but with an attempt to stir your deepest fear and break your mind once and for all.

*I have added a selection of relevant background lore to read, available on the stats screen. Orc and Krog Tier patrons will have read these before.

*Added a brief ‘Player Notes’ screen, also available from the stats screen, designed to give new players a heads-up.

Next, we move onto the Basilisk Path as you, with ill intent, also try to hunt down the ‘Dragonlander Colony.’ How will an empowered crawler fare with the dangers of Zthullu?

Thanks to everyone supporting me. Please report bugs and typos, if you can. You can post them in the comments or DM me.

Godspeed!

The HG FORUM UPDATE LINK can be found in the first post of this thread.:up_arrow:

The newest Patreon update has been released, too, titled ‘Spirals and Fireworks.’ Here, we rejoin the Basilisk-controlled Despair’s Demise with an extra 50k of content. It is available to all Krog-tier patrons.

PATREON LINK

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