History LetsPlay / TheMuseum

** For [[spoiler: Lurker Lockkingdom]], his [[BerserkButton extreme hatred of Goblins]]. When he picks an ill-advised fight with a goblin, he’s promptly taken out when the goblin's friends gang up on him and [[DropTheHammer bash his head in with a war hammer]].

* ObviousRulePatch: Following the discovery of civilized demons as a playable race, it was swiftly agreed upon by the players that playing as one was verboten due to their [[GameBreaker extreme size and stats relative to other adventurers]]. [[spoiler: Well, with [[BonusBoss one exception]] for [=nogoodnames=], who solved a GameBreakingBug as shown under OverpopulationCrisis.]]

** [[BearsAreBadNews Arcturus]] [[AnAxeToGrind Cinderfang]] is an honourable warrior and deeply loyal to his friends and civilization. He’s also a rather brutal OneManArmy with a [[BerserkButton deep (if somewhat justified) hatred of elvenkind]] and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty if it means killing more elves for his perceived and actual humiliation by their kind.

* BalefulPolymorph: The means by which [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Hands of Planegifts]] are made involves this, with unspecified methods being used to re-shape the subject's body into the serpentine form of a Hand.

** Museum III took this UpToEleven in epic fashion; after several in-game decades of Urus Ghostumbral the Cold Abbey of Knowing holding the record at 1141 kills (besting Dishmab's record by the skin of his teeth), it was veritably ''obliterated'' as Avolition Holyblood the Autumnal Kingdoms and Moldath Mournsaints reached a kill count of '''[[SerialEscalation 9029]]''' and [[SerialEscalation 4147 respectively, over the course of two or three turns]] [[note]]It should be noted that due to the changes to the [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175875.msg8243161#msg8243161 unofficial in-thread system]] used to record the actions of adventurers, this excludes most non-notable kills; with them, it is likely to be even higher.[[/note]]

* OneManArmy: Most of the adventurers with [[BodyCountCompetition particularly high kill counts]] are this by default. Taken UpToEleven by Kosoth Griffonblaze, whose combat skills BrokeTheRatingScale. (To wit: DF's skills are functionally capped at a value of Legendary+5. Kosoth's melee combat skill alone was Legendary '''+548''', with all but one of his other known skills similarly breaking the cap).

** Double-subverted. Orid Xem actually switched between the Age of Myth and the Age of Legends [[UpToEleven three separate times]] prior to [[HunterOfMonsters Lonelythrall's]] adventure, after which the game shifted to the Age of Heroes.

** Taken UpToEleven by Moldath later on, as he becomes a form of Intelligent Undead, [[NighInvulnerable further boosting his already impressive durability]]. [[spoiler: Then surprisingly subverted once the rot progressed to the point of rendering his body "mangled", as he became killable by even mild injuries.]]

** [[spoiler: Tipi Fatewalks']] dreams of becoming a travelling entertainer ultimately come to nothing, as [[spoiler: a [[TheUndead Husk]] rips her to shreds]] in the ruins of an isolated, abandoned fortress.
** [[spoiler: Amala Fragrantshaft [[AmbiguousSituation either kills her sister or indirectly causes her death]]]] due to an EvilWeapon's influence, then [[DrivenToSuicide jumps to her death from a mountain peak out of guilt]] after entombing her body.

** Iden Bloodinked [[spoiler: struck down a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Charcoal Brute]] with a wooden crutch, before dying of his wounds.]]

* LeftHanging: Sometimes happens when a player posts some of their turn's story but doesn't finish writing it up, or when a multi-turn StoryArc's author drops out of the turn list. The Historians' Guild was created with the intent to try and [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] the former issue, by allowing players to look through legends mode then write up their interpretation of the turn from a historian's point of view.

** If you're a worshipper of [[HealerGod Otu Lovelycherished]], ''do not'' have anything (intentional or otherwise) to do with {{necromancy}}. [[spoiler: Urus found this out the hard way.]]

** [[SnakePeople Kom 'QD' Ironwhispered]] gets an eye torn out by a dingo early in his adventures, then [[HealItWithFire cauterizes the wound with the heated tip of his spear to stop the bleeding]].

** Anybody bitten by a [[PlagueZombie Blighted Thrall]] suffers this – the ViralTransformation immediately renders them [[OmnicidalManiac opposed to life]], to the point where they will immediately attack both their erstwhile allies and even the creature that turned them [[note]] Briefly, at least: the infection does not reset conflict levels immediately, so a human-turned-thrall will still fight the thrall that turned them until the site is unloaded and re-entered – upon which they will be neutral (Outside of combat) or allies (during combat against the living) with the thrall that turned them.[[/note]].

** Lonelythrall is a [[FamedInStory famed]] HunterOfMonsters responsible for slaying numerous megabeasts [[spoiler: and even several demons]]. He’s also a fanatical worshipper of [[DestroyerDeity Armok’s]] bloodthirsty religion, to the point of displaying some [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist sentiments]].

* KnightInSourArmor: [[spoiler: Galka Kinddrummed]] becomes this by the end of his story; while he's [[TookALevelInCynic much more world-weary and cynical]] compared to his WideEyedIdealist self at the start, his last appearance has him helping a young boy to achieve his dream and he's implied to be watching over a group of dwarves as a protector of sorts.

** Taken UpToEleven by Moldath later on, as he becomes a form of Intelligent Undead, [[NighInvulnerable further boosting his already impressive durability]]. Then [[spoiler: surprisingly subverted once the rot progressed to the point of rendering his body "mangled", as he became killable by even mild injuries.]]

* LeaveNoSurvivors: [[https://dflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Okgush_Irka/345 Okgush Irka]], the bloodiest battle in the world to date, ended only with the death of all the undead in the living's way. Considering [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar the nature of the war]], this makes a great deal of sense.

* MythologyGag: Moldath's name and origin is one; the original Museum had an amulet ('''Mournsaints''' the Fire-Ruler of Rewards) which would randomly teleport from site to site. Moldath pops into existence one day out of thin air (similar to most depictions of teleportation) and is heavily implied to ''[[GeniusLoci be]]'' the amulet, having [[DimensionalTraveler travelled from one universe to another]].

** The early days of the game had the Silver Plague, a disease which killed just under half of the human population in the world [[note]]From an out-of-universe perspective, it was the explanation for [[https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=11536 a bug that caused large numbers of 'outcast' populations to appear and then suddenly disappear after an adventurer encountered them]]; this caused around twenty-five to thirty thousand humans to effectively vanish into thin air[[/note]]. The disease is indicated to attack the respiratory tract, taking root in the lungs before spreading out to the rest of the body; most victims either choke to death on their own blood or suffocate as their [[BodyHorror lungs become covered in necrotic sores and then completely break down]].

* RagsToRoyalty: A very literal example. [[spoiler: Bralbaard Hammerfishes goes from a rag-clad [[TheUndead walking corpse]] to the King of The Walled Dye.]] Later subverted, as a coup occurs during an attack by [[spoiler: Blighted Thralls that sees Bralbaard deposed, causing him to return to (un)life as an adventurer of the Museum]].

** Moldath Mournsaints went from a [[NakedOnArrival low-skiled, penniless outsider]] to a megabeast-slaying OneManArmy with spoiler: incredible necromantic powers and full adamantine gear.

** Museum III took this UpToEleven in epic fashion; after several in-game decades of Urus Ghostumbral the Cold Abbey of Knowing holding the record at 1141 kills (besting Dishmab's record by the skin of his teeth), it was veritably ''obliterated'' as [[AwesomeMcCoolname Avolition Holyblood the Autumnal Kingdoms]] and Moldath Mournsaints reached a kill count of '''[[SerialEscalation 9029]]''' and [[SerialEscalation 4147 respectively, over the course of two or three turns]] [[note]]It should be noted that due to the changes to the [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175875.msg8243161#msg8243161 unofficial in-thread system]] used to record the actions of adventurers, this excludes most non-notable kills; with them, it is likely to be even higher.[[/note]]

** Museum III took this UpToEleven in epic fashion; after several in-game decades of Urus Ghostumbral the Cold Abbey of Knowing holding the record at 1141 kills (besting Dishmab's record by the skin of his teeth), it was veritably ''obliterated'' as [[AwesomeMcCoolname Avolition Holyblood the Autumnal Kingdoms]] and Moldath Mournsaints the Ardent reached a kill count of [[SerialEscalation 4073 and 4591 respectively over the course of two or three turns]] [[note]]It should be noted that due to the changes to the [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175875.msg8243161#msg8243161 unofficial in-thread system]] used to record the actions of adventurers, this excludes most non-notable kills; with them, it is likely to be even higher.[[/note]]

* MasterOfOneMagic: A rare few adventurers accumulate massive amounts of knowledge related to necromantic magic over the course of their turns, becoming this in doing so.

* ToHellAndBack: Multiple times, by multiple different adventurers.

* HandicappedBadass:
** [[spoiler: Galka Kinddrummed becomes this by the end of his turn]].
** [[BlindWeaponmaster Moldath Mournsaints]] is blind [[spoiler: thanks to a syndrome [[EyeScream rotting his eyes into uselessness]].]] It doesn't stop him from being a lethally strong weaponmaster who [[{{Sadist}} enjoys inflicting violence and pain on others]], [[spoiler: particularly after he begins [[OurVampiresAreDifferent accumulating]] [[MasterOfOneMagic multiple power-ups]] [[BackFromTheDead through several methods]].]]

** Whatever [[spoiler: Ezif Aroirum]] found in the ruins of [[spoiler: Gor and Duskhome]] is implied [[GoMadFromTheRevelation to have]] ''[[GoMadFromTheRevelation not]]'' [[GoMadFromTheRevelation been kind to his sanity.]]]]

* BadassNormal: Many adventurers become this over the course of their story... assuming they [[AnyoneCanDie don't die first]].
** EmpoweredBadassNormal: Many of the above eventually become this, whether by accident or design.
* BodyCountCompetition: An informal and out-of-universe example. Several adventurers seem to be competing for the highest body count possible, to the point where the [[https://dflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Orid_Xem_tops#Most_notable_kills wiki for the game has a list of the ten adventurers with the highest body counts]] for Museum III.

* DownerEnding: Frequent, due to the high-mortality nature of the game, though several stories stand out due to being particularly tragic.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: An unfortunately common cause for short adventures.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Although fairly uncommon, there have been several examples of this:

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Applies to both PC and fortress names in spades, such as the fortresses of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Deathtraps]], Northmanor the Unholy Cathedral, and Northevil.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Shockingly subverted in the case of the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Charcoal Brutes]] that settled in the town of Incenseorder, who are capable of peaceful co-existence with humans and even diplomacy despite their usual hostility.

* AllThereInTheManual: The Dwarf Fortress Legends Wiki is a mild, but rapidly growing case of this, with detailed information on numerous background characters and supplementary articles related to the various history-shaping events of Orid Xem. It even obliquely references this trope with the concept of [[https://dflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Orid_Xem#Supersources Supersources]], which are described as being chronicles of all that has ever happened in the world of Orid Xem.

* AxCrazy: Raki Umberclan the Bulbous' marble count was roughly in the negatives for almost the whole of his turns, which saw him siring [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent Weremammoths]] all over the place and writing unhinged rants about his intent to kill those responsible for decimating the megabeasts of the world.

* BearsAreBadNews: Well, bear ''people'' are, as Arcturus Cinderfang's rampage can certainly attest.

* {{Determinator}}: Galka Kinddrummed. Despite being badly injured by aggressive wildlife, [[spoiler: finding out the Realm of Silver's glory was a lie, facing off against murderous hordes of Blighted Thralls,]] and overall being put through a physical and emotional gauntlet he refuses to give up.

* DyingRace: The kobolds of Orid Xem number a few dozen at best, and that number has only been dropping since the game started.

* EndOfAnAge: Double-subverted. Orid Xem actually switched between the Age of Myth and the Age of Legends [[UpToEleven three separate times]] prior to [[HunterOfMonsters Lonelythrall's]] adventure, after which the game shifted to the Age of Heroes.

* EyeScream: [[SnakePeople Kom 'QD' Ironwhispered]] gets an eye torn out by a dingo early in his adventures, then [[HealItWithFire cauterizes the wound with the heated tip of his spear to stop the bleeding]].

* FaceMonsterTurn: [[spoiler: Kosoth]] goes from an idealistic young dwarf seeking to prove himself to an [[spoiler: AxCrazy PlagueZombie that is used to spread the Obin Blight far and wide.]]
** This applies more generally to anybody bitten by a [[PlagueZombie Blighted Thrall]] – the ViralTransformation immediately renders them [[OmnicidalManiac opposed to life]], to the point where they will immediately attack both their erstwhile allies and even the creature that turned them [[note]] Briefly, at least: the infection does not reset conflict levels immediately, so a human-turned-thrall will still fight the thrall that turned them until the site is unloaded and re-entered – upon which they will be neutral (Outside of combat) or allies (during combat against the living) with the thrall that turned them.[[/note]].
* FamedInStory: Owing to the setting and premise of the game, several adventurers have become this. Some of the more commonly-mentioned ones are listed below:

* GodOfEvil: Gopet the Putrid Cyst, a human god of death and plagues. He's directly or indirectly responsible for (among other things) the [[MysticalPlague Obin]] [[ZombieApocalypse Blight]] ravaging Orid Xem, the proliferation of vampires across the world, and the mass slaughter of thousands through his mortal agents.

* GoodIsNotNice: Some of the adventurers definitely fall into this.

* MadeOfIron: Moldath Mournsaints. He endured being shot repeatedly with arrows and getting his limbs broken, [[BodyHorror having his entire body rot]], [[spoiler: having most of his rotten flesh ''flayed off'' by a [[WorstAid amateur surgeon]], and being beaten fifty times with a hammer (''twice'') as part of a judicial sentence.]] Granted, being a [[SuperToughness vampire]] dulls the impact a little, but still...

* MonsterProgenitor: A posthumous example. [[spoiler: Asmel Minepass's blood]] is directly responsible for creating the vast majority of [[spoiler: vampires in Orid Xem over a century after his death]].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Galka Kinddrummed has a major one of these after [[spoiler: [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killing his friend Bekdil]] during an argument in the mines]]; it continues to haunt him long after the deed is done, and is even reflected in his Museum submission - [[spoiler: six hundred and sixty figurines of Bekdil Wavetwists, hand-carved by Galka]].

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: They can even be civilized and peacefully co-exist with other sentient beings, as opposed to their normal AlwaysChaoticEvil attitudes.

* OverpopulationCrisis: A [[ZigzaggedTrope strange case]] of an InUniverse crisis having an out-of-game effect - a bug lead to ridiculous numbers (as in, 2.5 '''billion''' by the time the issue was solved) of [[OurOrcsAreDifferent necromancer experiments]] spawning in a few hamlets, to the point of crashing the game if someone tried to enter the settlements and rendering the popular Legends Viewer utility unusable due to an overflow error. It was eventually solved by using Dfhack's gm-editor tool to delete the populations of the hamlets, after which the bug did not reoccur.

* ThePlague: The early days of the game had the Silver Plague, a disease which killed just under half of the human population in the world [[note]]From an out-of-universe perspective, it was the explanation for [[https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=11536 a bug that caused large numbers of 'outcast' populations to appear and then suddenly disappear after an adventurer encountered them]]; this caused around twenty-five to thirty thousand humans to effectively vanish into thin air[[/note]]. The disease is indicated to attack the respiratory tract, taking root in the lungs before spreading out to the rest of the body; most victims either choke to death on their own blood or suffocate as their [[BodyHorror lungs become covered in necrotic sores and then completely break down]].

* SanitySlippage: [[ManiacMonkeys Raki]] didn't take too well to reading the past journals of the Museum's adventurers, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge to say]] [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent the least]].

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[IronicName Ketas Indigovaulted the Kind]] plays this role to Kosoth Salvesank; he's the one who manipulates Kosoth into [[spoiler: spreading the [[MysticalPlague Obin Blight]], controlling the otherwise half-feral PlagueZombie through the use of an unspecified FantasticDrug and necromantic magic]].
** In turn, [[spoiler: [[GodOfEvil Gopet the Putrid Cyst]] and [[NebulousEvilOrganisation the Abyssal Cult]]]] play this role to Ketas Indigovaulted, being the ones to [[spoiler: instruct Ketas to spread his comrade's "[[MysticalPlague gift]]" across the world, setting off the Obin Blight and all the mayhem, deaths, and disease that resulted]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Practically a requirement for most adventurers due to [[CrapsackWorld the hostile nature of the world]]. A few of the more notable examples are below:

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler: Bralbaard Hammerfishes]], who is disturbed by [[EmotionSuppression the effects of]] [[TheDarkArts his undead nature]] and admits there is much he would give up to live again. Part of the reason behind his creation of Herograves was to avert this trope for future adventurers.

* ZombieApocalypse: A number of them, both minor and major:

* AbortedArc: [[spoiler: Arcturus Cinderfang]] died of old age some time after his player was bumped down the turn list due to scheduling issues, resulting in a multi-turn arc about his quest [[spoiler: for vengeance on the elves over his and his people's enslavement]] abr.

** [[spoiler: Amala Fragrantshaft [[AmbiguousSituation either kills her sister or indirectly causes her death]]]] due to an [[EvilWeapon]]'s influence, then [[DrivenToSuicide jumps to her death from a mountain peak out of guilt]] after entombing her body.

* CutShort: [[spoiler: Arcturus Cinderfang]] died of old age some time after his player was bumped down the turn list due to scheduling issues, resulting in a multi-turn arc about his quest for vengeance never receiving a proper ending.

* BreatherEpisode: In between the short tragedies and grand adventures, a few of these can be found. Such as [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175875.msg8353202#msg8353202 the turn of of Maloy Craftsoars]], in which a [[BeastMan Wolf Man]] and his pet dog ([[ItMakesSenseInContext and a possibly-sentient ear]]) explore the world.

** [[spoiler: Amala Fragranceshaft [[AmbiguousSituation either kills her sister or indirectly causes her death]]]] due to [[EvilWeapon Okirramtak's]] influence, then [[DrivenToSuicide jumps to her death from a mountain peak out of guilt]] after entombing her body.]]

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Applies to both PC names and fortress names in spades.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104399.msg5317071#msg5317071 Dishmab]], having defeated everything that The Portentous Domain could throw at him, is elevated to godhood by [[TopGod Armok]] in recognition of his power and deeds. [[note]]The out-of-universe reason was that Dishmab essentially disappeared at some point, rendering it impossible to find him in-game; since he was easily one of the most powerful adventurers in all of the Museum's continuities and had a reputation as an unofficial MemeticBadass among the Museum's players, this was written in as an explanation for him vanishing.[[/note]]

* EnslavedElves: Played with. The western human kingdoms are noted to possess elven slaves and their time as a race is generally considered past, but at least one independent nation of elves exists.

* BadassNormal: Prince Jeha Sanaquemer of The Nations of Honoring, who became a beast hunter at the tender age of '''eight''' and slew several night creatures before his death.

** Elves are this for Arcturus Cinderfang after he uncovers their enslavement of his kind, to the point of being a significant motivator for his rampage through the elven lands.

* DeathIsCheap: Heavily [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]]; while there are plenty of necromancers capable of resurrecting dead characters and several adventurers have been brought BackFromTheDead, actually ''finding'' the corpse of a dead adventurer is a task in its own right and there's no guarantee that the body will be in good enough condition to resurrect. [[note]] Furthermore, it's entirely possible for a body to be ''de facto'' lost should an adventurer die in the wilds or a body of water, as finding it would require a player to manually search dozens to hundreds of map tiles (and the assorted obstacles there, which can hide the body) with almost nothing specific to go on. It doesn't exactly make for an interesting story on its own, and that's without considering that it has to be done within a week of real-world time.[[/note]]

* EvilWeapon: Okirramtak becomes this after [[spoiler: [[UnwittingPawn Kosoth Salvesank's]]]] adventures; it's indicated to be both somewhat sentient and actively malevolent, betraying its original master and [[spoiler: waiting until its new wielder, Amala Fragranceshaft, reaches a goblin pit before [[EmotionBomb forcibly driving her into a]] [[UnstoppableRage murderous frenzy]] that sees everyone there butchered to slake its bloodlust]].

** For [[spoiler: Lurker Lockkingdom]], his [[BerserkButton extreme hatred of Goblins]]. When he picks an ill-advised fight with a goblin, he’s promptly taken out by the greenskin’s human ally [[DropTheHammer bashing his head in with a war hammer]].

** [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent Raki Umberclan the Bulbous]] went from a mere courier for the elves to a weremammoth-spawning MonsterProgenitor and [[spoiler: [[OurLichesAreDifferent powerful intelligent undead]].]]

** [[spoiler: Nine Shovelmurders dies a pointless, brutal death [[DyingAlone in the middle of nowhere]] at the hands of several bandits.]]
** [[spoiler: Imic Heatherwind is brutally murdered by a pair of goblins that he accidentally stumbles across, only a day or two after suffering severe [[TheseHandsHaveKilled emotional trauma from killing a human in self-defence]]]].
** [[spoiler: Tipi Fatewalks' dreams of becoming a travelling entertainer ultimately come to nothing, as a [[TheUndead Husk]] rips her to shreds in the ruins of an isolated abandoned fortress.]]
** [[spoiler: Amala Fragranceshaft [[AmbiguousSituation either kills her sister or indirectly causes her death]] due to [[EvilWeapon Okirramtak's]] influence, then [[DrivenToSuicide jumps to her death from a mountain peak out of guilt]] after entombing her body.]]

** [[spoiler: Nine Shovelmurders was built up to have a long and rather impressive storyline (arguably the first "proper" one of the Museum as a whole, in terms of length and detail), only to be ambushed and unceremoniously killed by a group of wandering bandits that are implied to have been sent by Logic Legendfinder.]]
** [[spoiler: A very literal example in the case of [[SquashedFlat Yufluggus Cavernslides, who accidentally triggered a drawbridge to fall on him.]]]]

* CouldntFindAPen: [[spoiler: Istrul Tababehal]] writes his last diary entry in his own blood as he lies dying from a Kobold ambush.

* TooDumbToLive: One of Logic Legendfinder's companions thought it was a good idea to [[spoiler: jump in front of a dragon without a shield. [[KillItWithFire It was not.]]]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Shockingly subverted in the case of [[spoiler: the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Charcoal Brutes]] that settled in the town of Incenseorder,]] who are capable of peaceful co-existence with humans and even diplomacy despite their usual hostility.
** Averted in the case of Dreamypuzzled the Eternal, who is every bit as evil as you might expect of a [[spoiler: [[DemonicPossession Demon-possessed]]]] goblin.

* DealWithTheDevil: [[IncurableCoughOfDeath Urus Ghostumbral]] strikes one of these with [[{{Plaguemaster}} Gopet the Putrid Cyst]], after [[spoiler: unwittingly reading a scroll containing the secrets of life and death; though this cures him of his illness, Gopet demands repayment from Urus in return.]] The nature of this deal become clear later on, as Gopet [[spoiler: manipulates Urus into learning further [[{{Necromancer}} necromantic secrets]], placing a large source of vampire blood within arm's reach of numerous unscrupulous adventurers, nearly resurrecting [[AxCrazy Raki Umberclan the Bulbous]], and finally slaughtering over a thousand goblins in Gopet's name - the last of which is implied to have given him significantly more power than before.]]
* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler: Pictham Contestlabored ultimately goes down fighting against a horde of undead goblins, trying to drag as many of the undead down with her before she's overwhelmed and killed]].
* DeathIsCheap: Heavily [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]]; while there are plenty of necromancers capable of resurrecting dead characters and several adventurers have been brought BackFromTheDead as intelligent undead, actually ''finding'' the corpse of a dead adventurer is a task in its own right and there's no guarantee that the body will be in good enough condition to resurrect. Furthermore, it's entirely possible for a body to be ''de facto'' lost should an adventurer die in the wilds or a body of water, as finding it would require extensive searching of dozens to hundreds of map tiles with little to no hints as to where the body might be.

* {{Determinator}}: Galka Kinddrummed. Despite [[spoiler: finding out that the Realm of Silver's glory was a lie to justify enslaving others, being badly injured by aggressive wildlife, facing off against murderous hordes of Blighted Thralls, and overall being put through a physical and emotional gauntlet]] he refuses to give up and abandon hope.
** Moldath Mournsaints has been been to Hell and back (both literally and otherwise), is cursed by various afflictions (if being a necromancer that needs to drink blood isn't bad enough, he [[spoiler: caught a contagion that slowly rots his body. His ''[[AndIMustScream very immortal]]'' body]]), to the point where he's little more than an ambulatory corpse in perpetual physical pain. He’s still going strong by the 850s.

* EyeScream: [[SnakePeople Kom 'QD' Ironwhispered]] gets an eye torn out by a dingo early in his adventures, then [[HealItWithFire cauterizes the wound with the heated tip of his spear]] to stop the bleeding.
** [[spoiler: Moldath Mournsaints' eyes eventually rot into uselessness due to an unidentified syndrome, though [[BlindWeaponmaster it doesn't come close to making him less dangerous.]]]]
* FaceMonsterTurn: [[spoiler: Kosoth]] goes from an idealistic young dwarf seeking to prove himself to an [[spoiler: AxCrazy PlagueZombie that is used to spread the Obin Blight far and wide.]]

** Lonelythrall is famous InUniverse for [[spoiler: clearing a [[BrutalBonusLevel vault]], killing several megabeasts and night trolls, and being the first adventurer in Orid Xem to enter {{Hell}} and kill several of the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] that could be found there.]]

** Lonelythrall is a [[FamedInStory famed]] HunterOfMonsters responsible for slaying numerous megabeasts and even several demons. He’s also a fanatical worshipper of [[DestroyerDeity Armok’s]] bloodthirsty religion, to the point of displaying some [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist sentiments]].

* HeroicBSOD: Amala Fragrantshaft breaks down after [[spoiler: [[AmbiguousSituation either killing or letting her sister die]] during her brutal attack on a goblin pit.]]

* IdentityAmnesia: Zig-zagged; some Hands of Planegifts are implied to retain memories of their pre-transformation life, while others like Quenir Puzzlearm lack most if not all of their memories pre-experiments.

* KnightInSourArmor: [[spoiler: Galka Kinddrummed]] becomes this by the end of his story; while he's much more world-weary and [[TookALevelInCynic cynical]], compared to his WideEyedIdealist self at the start, his last appearance has him helping a young boy to achieve his dream and he's implied to be watching over a group of dwarves as a protector of sorts.
* MadeOfIron: Moldath Mournsaints. He endured being shot repeatedly with arrows and getting his limbs broken, [[spoiler: [[BodyHorror having his entire body rot]], having most of his rotten flesh ''flayed off'' by a [[WorstAid amateur surgeon]], and being beaten fifty times with a hammer (''twice'') as part of a judicial sentence.]] Granted, [[spoiler: being a [[SuperToughness vampire]]]] dulls the impact a little, but still...
** Taken UpToEleven by Moldath later on, [[spoiler: as he becomes a form of Intelligent Undead, further boosting his already impressive durability]]. Then [[spoiler: surprisingly subverted once the rot progressed to the point of rendering his body "mangled", as he became killable by even mild injuries.]]

** The dragon Fací Glowgilds the Bejeweled was the last dragon surviving World Generation; she was slain just six years after by the adventurer Doñas Silenttowered, rendering the dragons of Orid Xem extinct.

* MeatgrinderSurgery: [[FrontierDoctor Hannibal Valleyball's]] specialty; he refers to a scimitar as a scalpel, his story opens with him citing a 'successful' operation (a goblin with an injury list summarisable as "his everything is gone") then "dissecting" (read: dismembering) a hostile blighted thrall, and he's indicated to be a butcher by profession rather than a surgeon.
* MonsterProgenitor: A posthumous example. [[spoiler: Asmel Minepass's blood is directly responsible for the vast majority of vampires currently in Orid Xem over a century after his death]].

* ObviousRulePatch: Following the discovery of civilized demons as a playable race, it was swiftly agreed upon by the players that playing as one was verboten due to their [[GameBreaker extreme size and stats relative to other adventurers]]. [[spoiler: Well, with [[BonusBoss one exception]] for [=NoGoodNames=], who solved a GameBreakingBug as shown under OverpopulationCrisis.]]

* OneSteveLimit: Averted; characters and adventurers are known to partly share names, such as [[{{BFS}} Ketas]] [[TheBigGuy Immortalitymatched]] and [[SinisterScythe Ketas]] [[TheManBehindTheMan Indigovaulted]], [[EpicFlail Vafice]] [[WeHardlyKnewYe Wispcrypt]] and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Vafice]] [[ImmortalRuler Lutecover]], or [[BeastMan Galka]] [[MeaningfulName Fancyrocks]] and [[{{Determinator}} Galka]] [[KnightInSourArmor Kinddrummed]].

* RagsToRoyalty: A very literal example. [[spoiler: Bralbaard Hammerfishes goes from a rag-clad [[TheUndead walking corpse]] to the King of The Walled Dye.]] Later subverted, as [[spoiler: a coup occurs during an attack by Blighted Thralls that sees Bralbaard deposed, causing him to return to (un)life as an adventurer of the Museum]].

** Whatever [[spoiler: Ezif Aroirum found in the ruins of Gor and Duskhome is implied [[GoMadFromTheRevelation to have]] ''[[GoMadFromTheRevelation not]]'' [[GoMadFromTheRevelation been kind to his sanity.]]]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[IronicName Ketas Indigovaulted the Kind]] plays this role to Kosoth Salvesank; [[spoiler: he's the one who manipulates Kosoth into spreading the [[MysticalPlague Obin Blight]], controlling the otherwise half-feral PlagueZombie through the use of an unspecified FantasticDrug and necromantic magic]].

** Galka Kinddrummed went from a slave laboring in The Realm of Silver's mines to a [[spoiler: Blighted thrall-slaying immortal badass protecting a group of dwarves.]]
** Moldath Mournsaints went from a [[NakedOnArrival low-skiled, penniless outsider]] to a megabeast-slaying OneManArmy with [[spoiler: incredible necromantic powers and full adamantine gear]].

* UnreliableNarrator: Moldath Mournsaints, in part thanks to his brain rotting and his self-confessed sadism. For an example of this, he considers the efforts of The Walled Dye’s dwarves to heal him from his debilitating rot little more than ColdBloodedTorture ([[WorstAid which is debatable]]) and his [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown hammering]] unjustified (which is completely incorrect; it was prompted by his murder of several dwarves to sate his vampiric thirst).

* YourDaysAreNumbered: [[IncurableCoughOfDeath Urus Ghostumbral's]] initial motivation for adventuring - he was suffering from the Silver Plague, and sought a means of curing himself. [[spoiler: This was resolved surprisingly fast courtesy of [[{{Plaguemaster}} Gopet the Putrid Cyst's]] power, at the cost of essentially trapping Urus in a DealWithTheDevil with the God of Plagues.]]

** [[TheDreaded Moldath]] [[AxCrazy Mournsaints]] went from a unknown, penniless [[NakedOnArrival Outsider]] without anything more than a whip to his name to a NighInvulnerable OneManArmy [[MasterOfOneMagic with incredible knowledge of]] TheDarkArts, clad in full [[ArmorOfInvulnerability adamantine plate]] who regularly tears through small armies, megabeasts, and anything else that dares get in the way of his quest for more power.

** Overlapping with HeroicBSOD, [[spoiler: Amala Fragrantshaft]] suffers a severe moment of this after finding [[spoiler: her sister [[AngelUnaware Mucka]] dead in the wake of her [[UnstoppableRage rage-driven rampage]].