DD# 250 The Main Story Goes On

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the 250th Developer's Diary!

It has been a long way. Especially for the 3rd major Chapter of the game, it has been at least 1 year and 2 months in real-life time. But, finally, we have reached the point of a big breakthrough in the main storyline.

As previously mentioned, when the Aten Cultists travel through the Dolovian territory, Duin and his werewolves capture some of them. As a gesture of his goodwill, he allows you to interrogate the last living member of this group.

You certainly can have many different ways to extract information from him.

You can use the good old deception or a bit of NSFW seduction. (Both require a very high skill check.)
In addition to those options, there are also two hidden options.
If you have previously discovered what happened to the original Aten religion and how a madman's ambition twisted it, you can choose the "Truth" option.
If you have Harold in your group, you can also let him do the dirty work for you.
Currently, the Deception path and the Truth path are done.
The following week, the other two paths will be finished.
Fun fact: Your deception may work too well than you expected. It can lead to an unexpected problem. We all love some dark humor in this grimdark universe underneath a seemingly beautiful, normal world.

Just make sure you don't torture him too much and accidentally kill him.
Even your demon can feel uncomfortable if he has been influenced by you to become a bit humane while you commit such an atrocity. What an irony.

It's not a secret that the next stage and the final battle of Chapter 3 will take place in North Peak. In the previous SAPC++ timeline, a great hero or heroine sealed the Nise Federation's parallel-universe version of Lucifer there in an epic "final battle." Depending on your perspective of what the Dark Elf King tells you, that hero or heroine may be your main character. But that's another story.

We are heading there! But, how? That place is filled with demonic enemies, frigid weather, and powerful illusion spells that can easily trap people, preventing any intruders. However, a powerful place like this certainly attracted many other groups of interest. You don't need to do the hard work all by yourself.

A certain "Guide to the Mountains" has already mapped the area and can take you there free of charge, even though his method to acquire such knowledge violates all kinds of human rights. But, hey, this is a real thing that happens in real life. I am not here to be politically correct. Don't worry about AI taking over just yet. People's lives are much cheaper in some countries.

Fun fact:
The guide also has his own character appearance.

You can probably guess his role is far more than just being a guide to lead you to the North Peak and other nearby locations.

Aside from the main story, there was also some cleanup for the Halloween Event. You can always see me over-design certain things. Sometimes, not everything can get into the game on time. But I am not going to delay them until next Halloween. They shall be done here and now.
Thus, the crafting recipes for many Halloween items are in.

You can now craft your own Halloween items. It may cause a lot of pumpkins. So, either rob some stores or plant your own pumpkins at home. They can all have prefixes, and their attributions are affected by your 3D Printing skills. Keep rolling your dice or save-scumming, whatever suits you. It's your game to play. Nobody can judge.

Of course, there are some other little things here and there. For example, earplugs.

Don't worry. I was not bombed, unlike my Ukrainian friends in Kyiv right now. I hope they are safe. I just got a neighbor who did some heavy renovations this Monday. It was quite annoying. But the human brain is far from a perfect machine. It does not react to what is real. It reacts to what you tell it is real. Thus, with the power of earplugs, you can deceive your brain into thinking everything is quieter. It's now in the game too.
Fun fact 1: I made some psychological songs about how to hack the brain. They are not in the game. But maybe one day I can find a suitable place to add them.
Fun fact 2: It's kinda like the philosophical debate about the "veil" in the game. Various secret organizations hide the truth from the "normal" world to ensure the majority of the population lives in blessed ignorance. It sounds bad. But it's certainly better for everyone's mental health rather than taking a San-Check in front of eldritch horrors every few minutes. This is a topic we will likely see more of in the game.

Alright, that's for this week. The path for the next week is pretty clear. The other two options for interrogating the captured cultist will be finished. The long chase of Zhang Yin will finally be over. Prepare for a final confrontation soon.

The full update log of this week:
20251101
English
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[Equipment]New Equipment: Earplugs
[Shopping]Random general good vendors now sell Earplugs. (No prefixes)
[Shopping]Random traveling merchants may now sell Earplugs. (No prefixes)
[Shopping]Bob's Grocery now sells Earplugs in both timelines of Queensmouth. (No prefixes)
[Loot]The following enemy types may now drop Earplugs: Businessmen, Dark Alley Gangsters, Random Bandits, Random Researchers, Random Zombies, Random Mercenaries, Katan Outlaws, and Crazied Survivors. (Can have prefixes)
[Skill-Check]When you select a character to do a skill check, characters who are unconscious will be displayed as such so that you can avoid selecting them.
简体中文
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【装备】新装备：耳塞 （可能带有词缀）
【购物】随机的杂货商现在会贩卖耳塞。（没有词缀）
【购物】随机的旅行商人现在可能会贩卖耳塞。（没有词缀）
【购物】鲍勃的杂货店现在会在王后镇的两条时间线上都贩卖耳塞。（没有词缀）
【凋落物】以下种类的敌人可能掉落耳塞：打工人、暗巷帮派成员、随机强盗、随机的研究员、随机僵尸、随机雇佣兵、卡坦法外狂徒、发狂的幸存者。（可能带有词缀）
【技能检定】当你选择一个角色进行技能检定时，失去意识的角色会在选择菜单中显示这个状态，从而让你可以避免选择这些角色。

20251102
English
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[The Anomalous Nation]The story continues. (Mephisto has different dialogs depending on whether you have turned this demon more humane.)
[Duin's Underground Lab]The torture chamber is now accessible during the main storyline.
[Wiki]Updated the Anomalous Nation page.
[Duin's Underground Lab]Added a restroom.
[Tileset]Expened the tileset of Duin's Underground Lab
简体中文
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【异常国度】剧情继续。（梅菲斯特会根据你是否让这个恶魔更具有了人性而有不同的对话内容。）
【杜因的地下实验室】酷刑室在主线剧情中可以进入。
【维基】更新了异常国度页面。
【杜因的地下实验室】增加了一个洗手间。
【图块】扩展了杜因的地下实验室图块。

20251103
English
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[Duin's Underground Lab]Added dialogs for the Torturer. Depending on your choices in Egypt, his dialogs may be different. If Harold is in your group, he has some additional dialogs.
[Duin's Underground Lab]Added a 3D printer.
[3D Printing]New 3D printing category: Halloween
[3D Printing]Added 3D Printing Data for the following items: Pumpkin Axes, Pumpkin Shovels, Pumpkin Head(Equippable)
[3D Printing]Added 3D Printing Blueprint Items for the following items: Pumpkin Axes, Pumpkin Shovels, Pumpkin Head(Equippable)
[Loot]Pumpkins may now drop those blueprints mentioned above.
[Wiki]Updated the 3D Printing page.
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[3D Printing]Fixed the missing localization text for Duct Tape in Simplified Chinese. (Previously, the system automatically hides the bug by using the Traditional Chinese version.)
简体中文
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【杜因的地下实验室】为施虐者加入了对白。基于你此前在埃及的选择，他的对话内容会有所不同。如果哈罗德在队伍内，会有额外的对话内容。
【杜因的地下实验室】加入了一台3D打印机。
【3D打印】新3D打印分类：万圣节
【3D打印】加入了下列物品的3D打印数据：南瓜头斧，南瓜头铲，南瓜头（可装备）
【3D打印】加入了下列物品的3D打印图纸：南瓜头斧，南瓜头铲，南瓜头（可装备）
【掉落物】南瓜们现在可能掉落上面的这些图纸。
【维基】更新了3D打印页面。
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【3D打印】修复了简体中文中缺少制造强力胶带的文本的BUG（之前系统自动使用了繁体中文的版本。）

20251104
English
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[The Anomalous Nation]You can now hit the captured Aten Cultist. But that will not make him speak; it will only reduce your karma value. (You can see a clear clue from the torturer nearby.) The system will track how many times you hit him. If certain teammates are in your group, they will also disapprove of this action.
[The Anomalous Nation]Added four other options to progress. Two of them are always available. One of them requires you to have discovered what really happened to Aten in the secret room underneath the Sphinx. The other one requires that Harold is currently in your group. All the options are currently WIP.
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[Torture]Added a common event that triggers when you use your character to torture people during stories. Currently, there are two places.
简体中文
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【异常国度】你现在可以殴打被抓获的阿腾信徒。但是没什么用，只会降低你的道德值。(你从旁边的施虐者那里就能看到明显的线索。) 系统会记录你殴打他的次数。如果某些队员在队伍中，他们也会反对你这么做。
【异常国度】加入了四个可以继续的选项。其中两个总是可选。一个需要你在埃及斯芬克斯底下的秘密房间发现了阿腾的秘密。还有一个需要哈罗德当前在你的队伍中。
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【虐待】加入了一个会在你使用你的角色在剧情中进行虐待NPC时触发的公共事件。目前游戏中有两个地方触发。

20251105
English
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[Character Customization]Added another male character appearance.
简体中文
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【角色自定义】加入了一个新的男性角色外观。

20251106
English
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[The Dolovian Camp]Added a new NPC known as the Guide to the Mountains and his dialogs.
[The Dolovian Camp]Added a short delay between options on all teleport circles, to avoid misclick.
简体中文
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【多洛维营地】加入了一个新的名为【前往深山的导游】的NPC以及他的对话内容。
【多洛维营地】在传送阵的选项之间加入了一个短暂的停顿，防止误点。

20251107
English
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[The Anomalous Nation]The "Deceive" Path in the torture room is complete. You will find your deception may work too well.
[The Anomalous Nation]The "Truth" Path in the torture room is complete.
[Wiki]Updated the Anomalous Nation page.
[The Dolovian Camp]Once you extracted the information from the captured Aten Cultist. The Guide to the Mountains can take to that coorindation. (It's still working in progress.)
简体中文
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【异常国度】酷刑室里的【欺骗】路线完成。你会发现你的欺骗效果意外地好，以至于发生了意外。
【异常国度】酷刑室里的【真相】路线完成。
【维基】更新了【异常国度】页面。
【多洛维营地】在你从被抓到的阿腾教团人员那里提取出信息之后。【前往深山的导游】可以带你前往那个坐标。（仍然在施工。)

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