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=Heart-Catcher Gardens= ''A grizzled coterie of gardeners care for this unusual orchard. The plants that grow here are Heart-Catchers, whose fruit looks - and speaks - like human heads.'' {{Infobox story |name = The Nurseries |image = greenfingeredwarhorse.png |px = 100px |category = [[Story Event]] |type = Story |linked = |id = 299286 }} ==The Nurseries== ''A series of finely-manicured indigo lawns cover this corner of Pan. Peculiar plants grow in the beds: tangled as rose-bushes, and budding with fruit. The fruit is lumpen: perfectly formed facial features are growing on it. This one has a frantic, staring eye. This one is growing an ear. This one keens pitiably through tiny, trembling lips. Silent gardeners, whose broad-brimmed hats are hung with veils to hide their faces, tend devotedly to the plants.'' <big>'''Interactions'''</big> {| class='ss-table' style='width:100%;' !style='width:15%;'| Actions !style='width:30%;'| Requirements ! colspan='6' style='width:40%;'| Effects !style='width:15%;'| Notes |- | {{effect title|Speak to a Green-Fingered Old Warhorse}} <div>He removes his hat. The face beneath is scarred and bleak. A soldier's face.</div> | <ul> </ul> |colspan='6'|<div></div> <ul> {{trigger event|The Green-Fingered Warhorse||greenfingeredwarhorse}}<p></p> </ul> | |- | rowspan='2' | {{effect title|Sanctify the corpse of the Chorister Saint}} <div>You'll need to locate where the Chorister Saint was lain to rest. The Heart-Catchers will be displeased by your excavations.</div> | rowspan='2' | <ul> * [[File:devilshell icon.png|23px]] [[Requiesat in Pace]] = 1 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>Locate a shrine on Pan</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:devilshell icon.png|23px]] [[Sanctify the Corpse of the Chorister Saint]] = 1 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>Locate the shrine in the Heart-Catcher's Garden</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 5<p></p> </ul> |colspan='2' rowspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''A place for slumber and sorrow to meet '''</span> <div>Careful exploration reveals a concealed grove, far from the main gardens of the Heart-Catchers. The plants here are particularly plump. Leering heads ooze from the vines, dripping ichor onto the grass. You get to work with a shovel, going quickly to avoid discovery. The roots of the plants form a knot deep in the ground. You dig into them, gouging your way through, until your spade hits metal. Clasped within the boil of vines is the brass carapace of the Chorister Saint. All of its eyes are dull; it is a desiccated husk, drunk dry.</div> <ul> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-5</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> |colspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''Consecrate the Chorister Saint'''</span> <div>The Scarlet Condiottere has instructed you.</div> | colspan='2' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #feeb75; |<div>You hack away, removing the rest of the vines. The Heart-Catchers will no doubt plant more, but you can grant the Chorister a brief reprieve. Its body is too great for you to move it elsewhere. You daub its lips with some of the vial of souls, and anoint its armour as it would have done when it accompanied the suns to war. There is movement nearby. Time to be away. You have done what you can for the Chorister.</div> <ul> * [[File:devilshell icon.png|23px]] [[Requiesat in Pace]] = 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You have anointed one of Hell's Saints with soul-chrysm</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:devilshell icon.png|23px]] [[Sanctify the Corpse of the Chorister Saint]] = 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>[COMPLETE]You have anointed the ruin of the Chorister Saint</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:fire icon.png|23px]] [[Curdled]] = 1 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>The devils of Carillon claim to be experts in the assessment and improvement of the soul. They would describe yours as sickly, cloying and unappetisingly crawling. </span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> |rowspan='2'| |- |colspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''Reinter the corpse'''</span> <div>Leave the Chorister Saint be. You won't desecrate the Heart-Catchers' grove.</div> | colspan='2' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #feeb75; |<div>You use the shovel to go over the soil, showering the saint's corpse with clod after clod of rich earth. You are careful to avoid harming the roots of the plants, and the faces of the saints smile on you as you pat over the last of the ground.</div> <ul> </ul> |- </ul> |- | {{effect title|Win the acceptance of the Heart-Catchers}} <div>Tell the Green-Fingered Old Warhorse you have disposed of the three unwanted deaths. {{game note|You will be granted access to the Mimiricon.}} </div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You have been given three deaths to hide in different ways as you explore the sky. Return to the Heart-Catchers when the deed is done</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:terror icon.png|23px]] [[Death in a Jar]] β₯ 4 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>[COMPLETE]You have disposed of all three deaths</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> |colspan='6'| <span style='color:white'>'''Admirers '''</span> <div>You hand over the empty box, and begin to tell him where you disposed of the deaths it contained. He raises his hand. "No, it's best no one knows. Especially me. There's already too much I'd rather forget." He leads you along the thorny hedge that encloses the inner gardens. A single archway β made from the vines and tangles of a wary, fully-grown Heart-Catcher β allows entry. As you step through, the heads among leaves bow. "Death-burier!" one cries, in tones of deep respect. "Fate-breaker!" calls another. "Friend," whispers the third. Beyond are the deeper glades, where mature Heart-Catchers hold their counsels.</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 20 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are permitted into the Mimiricon, the inner garden of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1000</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Death Disposed of: Blind Hermit]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Death Disposed of: Bully's Acre]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Death Disposed of: Homestead]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Death Disposed of: Measurer]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Death Disposed of: Weft]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Death Disposed of: Well]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Death Disposed of: Wreck]] = 0<p></p> {{trigger event|The Mimiricon||bronzewood}}<p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Whisper Eleutherian Mysteries to the Heart-Catchers}} <div>The young plants require more than meat and bonemeal. Their minds, too, must be nourished. {{game note|Trade Eleutherian Mysteries for an Otherworldly Artefact.}} </div> | <ul> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 2<p></p> </ul> |colspan='6'| <span style='color:white'>'''The Binary '''</span> <div>The Green-Fingered Old Warhorse leads you to a frail-looking Heart-Catcher whose leaves are so thin as to be translucent. You find a pale fruit that bears a delicate ear, and whisper your mysteries to it. It listens, closely. As thanks, the Old Warhorse gives you an obtuse artefact. "We find them while turning the soil," he says. Its function is inscrutable, but the designs engraved on it show the Eleutherian sky, occupied by two suns.</div> <ul> * [[File:OtherworldlyArtefact icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Otherworldly Artefact]]<p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-2</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Acquire a death}} <div>The Heart-Catchers capture deaths. Perhaps you could acquire one. Perhaps you could arrange for it to be altered. Perhaps it could become a death for someone of your choosing. {{game note|Acquire a Crimson Promise, which may be useful in certain stories.}} </div> | <ul> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 1<p></p> * [[File:navarantinegemstones square icon.png|23px]] 1 x [[Cask of Navaratine Gemstones]]<p></p> * [[File:bombazineroll square icon.png|23px]] 2 x [[Roll of Thirsty Bombazine]]<p></p> * [[File:unaccountablypeckish icon.png|23px]] [[Savage Secret]] β₯ 3<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] [[Experience]] β₯ 1000<p></p> </ul> |colspan='6'| <span style='color:white'>'''A custom-made death '''</span> <div>It shouldn't be done, of course. But this is Eleutheria, where laws are broken. And the Green-Fingered Old Warhorse has lived a lifetime of illegality. He demands Navaratine gemstones, and bombazine to hide them in. He asks for three truths about your enemy that no one else knows. He insists you swear thief-oaths to secure your secrecy. They are taxing. He meets you away from the gardens, in a shabby, noisy, port-side taverna. They know him, here, all the old villains he once kept company with. Grim-faced, he hands you a jar, the lid fixed on with wax and wire. Inside, the death you bought.</div> <ul> * [[File:crimsonpromise icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Crimson Promise]]<p></p> * [[File:navarantinegemstones square icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-1</span> x [[Cask of Navaratine Gemstones]]<p></p> * [[File:bombazineroll square icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-2</span> x [[Roll of Thirsty Bombazine]]<p></p> * [[File:unaccountablypeckish icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Savage Secret]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-1000</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-1</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Prove your value to the Heart-Catchers}} <div>You could β if you chose, and if you were prepared to dedicate yourself solely to them β ally with the Heart-Catchers. But you would have to prove your value. {{game note|Ally with the Heart-Catchers. Be warned that if you do, you will not be able to ally with the Brazen Brigade or Winter's Reside.}} </div> | <ul> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 4<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] β€ 0<p></p> * [[File:bloody icon.png|23px]] [[Winter's Reside: Something More Than Revolutionary]] β€ 0<p></p> * [[File:devilshell icon.png|23px]] [[A Marcher in the Brazen Brigade]] β€ 0<p></p> </ul> |colspan='6'| <span style='color:white'>'''In an egg under a mountain on an island behind the wind... '''</span> <div>The Green-Fingered Old Warhorse hands you a box containing three carefully-packed clay jars. "Each jar contains a death. Petitioners pay very well for us to capture a death that they fear or have had foretold, and ensure that it won't trouble them. Unfortunately, deaths are clever little blighters: always slipping free and cropping up where least expected. The best we can do, once we've caught them, is to hide them as inconveniently as possible. "Take these and find hiding places for them during your travels. And hide each in a different way! Leave no pattern. Leave no trail." {{game note|Look for ways to dispose safely of the deaths while you are travelling the sky. Return when all three are disposed of.}} </div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You have been given three deaths to hide in different ways as you explore the sky. Return to the Heart-Catchers when the deed is done</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-4</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> * [[File:terror icon.png|23px]] [[Death in a Jar]] = 1 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You have three deaths to dispose of</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | |- | rowspan='2' | {{effect title|Ask the Heart-Catchers to capture your prophesied bedridden death }} <div>You have been cursed with a foretelling of your likely death. But if you are prepared to pay the Heart-Catchers' price, they will catch that death in a jar for safekeeping. {{game note|This will remove the 'Bell Tolls' facet and replace it with a unique one: A Jar with your Death in it. This increases Mirrors and either Hearts or Veils, and your Bohemian or Villainy affiliation. It will not make you immortal: a thousand deaths await in the skies.}} </div> | rowspan='2' | <ul> * [[File:terror icon.png|23px]] [[Past: The Bell Tolls]] = 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>It has been foretold that you will die in bed</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 7<p></p> * [[File:maskedshade icon.png|23px]] [[Deed: A Jar with your Death in it]] β€ 0<p></p> </ul> |colspan='2' rowspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''Interred '''</span> <div>The process is not gentle. You are entombed for three days and nights amidst a Heart-Catcher's roots. You eat nothing, drink only droplets of dew, and dream of ways to die. Afterwards, the Green-Fingered Old Warhorse digs you up and hands you a jar, sealed with wax and wire. Your death is trapped inside. Now you have it, what will you do with it?</div> <ul> * [[File:terror icon.png|23px]] [[Past: The Bell Tolls]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-7</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> |colspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''Keep it on your bedside cabinet'''</span> <div>Where you can keep an eye on it. {{game note|This will increase your Hearts and your Bohemian affiliations.}} </div> | colspan='2' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #feeb75; |<div>Occasionally, you could take it out and contemplate your mortality. It also makes an excellent conversation starter. Poets in particular are terribly impressed.</div> <ul> * [[File:maskedshade icon.png|23px]] [[Deed: A Jar with your Death in it]] = 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You keep your prophecied death in a jar, where you can see it</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:veils icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-5</span> x [[Veils]]<p></p> * [[File:iron icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Iron]]<p></p> * [[File:mirrors icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+5</span> x [[Mirrors]]<p></p> * [[File:hearts icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+3</span> x [[Hearts]]<p></p> * [[File:affiliationbohemia icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Affiliation: Bohemia]]<p></p> </ul> |rowspan='2'| |- |colspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''You buried it deep'''</span> <div>A death is a dangerous thing to keep nearby. {{game note|This will preserve some of the Veils you gained from A Bell Tolls and increase your villainous affiliations.}} </div> | colspan='2' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #feeb75; |<div>What if it got out? What if the jar broke? No, better to hide it carefully, far away. In time, the story of your deed becomes popular in villainous circles. Thieves have always been a superstitious lot.</div> <ul> * [[File:maskedshade icon.png|23px]] [[Deed: A Jar with your Death in it]] = 20 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You trapped your prophecied death and buried it somewhere deep and lonely</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:veils icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-2</span> x [[Veils]]<p></p> * [[File:iron icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Iron]]<p></p> * [[File:mirrors icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+5</span> x [[Mirrors]]<p></p> * [[File:affiliationvillainy icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Affiliation: Villainy]]<p></p> </ul> |- </ul> |- | rowspan='2' | {{effect title|Ask the Heart-Catchers to capture your prophesied death in the sky}} <div>You have been cursed with a foretelling of your likely death. But if you are prepared to pay the Heart-Catchers' price, they will catch that death in a jar for safekeeping. {{game note|This will remove the 'Bell Tolls' facet and replace it with a unique one: A Jar with your Death in it. This increases Mirrors and either Hearts or Veils, and your Bohemian or Villainy affiliation. It will not make you immortal: a thousand deaths await in the skies.}} </div> | rowspan='2' | <ul> * [[File:terror icon.png|23px]] [[Past: The Bell Tolls]] = 20 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>It has been foretold that you will die in the cold skies</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 7<p></p> * [[File:maskedshade icon.png|23px]] [[Deed: A Jar with your Death in it]] β€ 0<p></p> </ul> |colspan='2' rowspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''Interred '''</span> <div>The process is not gentle. You are entombed for three days and nights amidst a Heart-Catcher's roots. You eat nothing, drink only droplets of dew, and dream of ways to die. Afterwards, the Green-Fingered Old Warhorse digs you up and hands you a jar, sealed with wax and wire. Your death is trapped inside. Now you have it, what will you do with it?</div> <ul> * [[File:terror icon.png|23px]] [[Past: The Bell Tolls]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-7</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> |colspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''Keep it on your bedside cabinet'''</span> <div>Where you can keep an eye on it. {{game note|This will increase your Hearts and your Bohemian affiliations.}} </div> | colspan='2' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #feeb75; |<div>Occasionally, you could take it out and contemplate your mortality. It also makes an excellent conversation starter. Poets and artists, in particular, are terribly impressed.</div> <ul> * [[File:maskedshade icon.png|23px]] [[Deed: A Jar with your Death in it]] = 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You keep your prophecied death in a jar, where you can see it</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:veils icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-5</span> x [[Veils]]<p></p> * [[File:mirrors icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+2</span> x [[Mirrors]]<p></p> * [[File:hearts icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+3</span> x [[Hearts]]<p></p> * [[File:affiliationbohemia icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Affiliation: Bohemia]]<p></p> </ul> |rowspan='2'| |- |colspan='2'| <span style='color:white'>'''You buried it deep'''</span> <div>A death is a dangerous thing to keep nearby. {{game note|This will preserve some of the Veils you gained from A Bell Tolls and increase your villainous affiliations.}} </div> | colspan='2' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #feeb75; |<div>What if it got out? What if the jar broke? No, better to hide it well and far away. The story of your deed becomes popular in villainous circles. Thieves have always been a superstitious lot.</div> <ul> * [[File:maskedshade icon.png|23px]] [[Deed: A Jar with your Death in it]] = 20 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You trapped your prophecied death and buried it somewhere deep and lonely</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:veils icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-2</span> x [[Veils]]<p></p> * [[File:mirrors icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+2</span> x [[Mirrors]]<p></p> * [[File:affiliationvillainy icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Affiliation: Villainy]]<p></p> </ul> |- </ul> |} {{Infobox story |name = The Green-Fingered Warhorse |image = greenfingeredwarhorse.png |px = 100px |category = [[Story Event]] |type = Story |linked = |id = 299306 }} ===The Green-Fingered Warhorse=== ''He must occupy a senior position, for the other gardeners nod their heads as they pass him. Beneath his overalls he wears a ratskin suit, ragged from the plants' playful thorns. There is a deadness to his gaze. '' <big>'''Interactions'''</big> {| class='ss-table' style='width:100%;' !style='width:15%;'| Actions !style='width:30%;'| Requirements !style='width:40%;'| Effects !style='width:15%;'| Notes |- | {{effect title|Ask about the petitioners}} <div>A number of desperate-looking people are lined at the hedgerow gate to the inner gardens.</div> | <ul> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''A death in a bottle '''</span> <div>"The Heart-Catchers know many secrets," he says. "Among them is a method to capture a death and seal it away so that it can't trouble you. If you fear a particular end, like drowning, say, or freezing, the Heart-Catchers could hide it away." He takes a cage of squirming mice from his pocket, fishes one out, and drops it into the thorny vines of the closest plant. The vines constrict. The mouse squeaks. The plant shivers. "It's no guarantee of immortality, of course. A thousand deaths await in the skies."</div> <ul> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Ask him about himself}} <div>Judging from his military bearing, he was not always a gardener.</div> | <ul> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Past lives '''</span> <div>"No. Once I was a soldier, and a commander of soldiers. I was good at it, as such things are measured. Now I keep the gardens, tend the Heart-Catchers, and pray that I have no further effect on the world at all." Another gardener passes you, carrying a bucket. Kneeling by a bed full of budding Heart-Catchers, they tip the bucket over. The contents ooze, redly, onto the soil.</div> <ul> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Ask about the Heart-Catchers}} <div>Learn more about these peculiar plants.</div> | <ul> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Scholars and councillors '''</span> <div>"They are a species native to the heavens," he observes. "Here in the nurseries we help the younger specimens grow to maturity, before transferring them to the inner gardens: the Mimiricon." He indicates some colleagues, who are digging up the largest plant in the garden and wrestling it onto a cart while it tries, affectionately, to throttle them. You note its fruit, which are now big enough to resemble the faces of bawling cherubs. "Once fully grown," the Warhorse continues, "their fruit can reason, and speak, and debate. More effectively than we, even. Each plant is an entire council or faculty."</div> <ul> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Ask about entering the inner garden}} <div>A hedge encloses it. An archway permits entrance, but is protected by a mature Heart-Catcher whose cynical faces peer from the thicket. They excoriate intruders with insightful critique.</div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] β€ 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You have been given three deaths to hide in different ways as you explore the sky. Return to the Heart-Catchers when the deed is done</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Quid pro quo '''</span> <div>"Only friends of the Heart-Catchers may enter the Mimiricon. And successful petitioners, of course, but the latter are blindfolded. Perhaps, if you performed a service for the Heart-Catchers, they would warm to you."</div> <ul> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Bid him goodbye}} <div>He dons his veiled hat and returns to his labours.</div> | <ul> </ul> |<div></div> <ul> {{trigger event|The Nurseries||greenfingeredwarhorse}}<p></p> </ul> | |} {{Infobox story |name = The Mimiricon |image = bronzewood.png |px = 100px |category = [[Story Event]] |type = Story |linked = |id = 299292 }} ==The Mimiricon== ''The inner gardens are surrounded by a hedge as thick as a fortress wall, knotted with thorns and strangled with vines. Behind it are the grove-homes of the Heart-Catchers, steeped in Eleutheria's midnight and frequented only by their favoured servants.'' ''Within the Mimiricon, the Heart-Catchers are big as trees and clustered with mature heads. Each plant is a council of intellects, debating the secrets of the sky. '' <big>'''Interactions'''</big> {| class='ss-table' style='width:100%;' !style='width:15%;'| Actions !style='width:30%;'| Requirements !style='width:40%;'| Effects !style='width:15%;'| Notes |- | {{effect title|Seek entry}} <div>An arch in the hedge leads inside. A dozen heads, grey-haired and bitter, peer from among the leaves.</div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] β€ 10 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You have been given three deaths to hide in different ways as you explore the sky. Return to the Heart-Catchers when the deed is done</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Turned away '''</span> <div>"Begone!" The heads insist. "You have not been chosen. You have not served." As far as you can tell, the whole hedge is the body of one vast, brambly Heart-Catcher. As you turn to leave, one of its heads whispers something, and the others snigger. When you ask what was amusing, a hawk-nosed head apologises. "Sorry. We'll just never get used to how much your heads look like fruit."</div> <ul> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Offer yourself in a perilous rite to aid a Heart-Catcher}} <div>An old Heart-Catcher has succumbed to an insidious poison. Drastic measures are required to affect a cure. "Not to put too fine a point on it," the Old Warhorse says, "but we will need your head." He eyes your neck, critically. {{game note|If successful, this will allow access to the innermost grove of the Heart-Catchers, where the oldest of them sleeps. If not, well, the game features a robust legacy system allowing deceased captains to pass much of their progress on to those that follow.}} </div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 20 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are permitted into the Mimiricon, the inner garden of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 7<p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''The Nepenthine Ritual '''</span> <div>The Old Warhorse explains the problem. "One of the Heart-Catchers has been poisoned by doubt, and we have been unable to arrest the toxin's progress. "All but one of its fruit have contracted the poison, and if the last one succumbs, the entire plant will die. We need you to masquerade as one of its fruit, and fortify the remaining head. "The process is not without danger," he confesses.</div> <ul> {{trigger event|The Nepenthine Ritual||pastscarred}}<p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Seek counsel with one of the Heart-Catchers}} <div>They have deduced many things about the High Wilderness. If you give them reference points, they can tell you about any part of the sky. {{game note|Trade Visions of the Heavens for an Unlicensed Chart.}} </div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] β₯ 20 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are permitted into the Mimiricon, the inner garden of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 2<p></p> * [[File:visionoftheheavens icon.png|23px]] [[Vision of the Heavens]] β₯ 3<p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Receiving counsel '''</span> <div>You sit among the roots of a gnarled old Heart-Catcher as its vines coil in thought. It's just the two of you β the laws of Eleutheria only permit a tale to be told to one other person. The hanging heads debate your question. One provides a hypothesis, another an antithesis. The remainder negotiate a synthesis. You record their findings. As you listen, you learn fragments of Eleutheria's history. Of a costly victory in a war against the Solonacean Conjunction. Of the grieving of the Halved. Of the visit of the Second Storytellerβ The Heart-Catcher falls silent. It has said too much.</div> <ul> * [[File:unlicensedchart icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Unlicensed Chart]]<p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-2</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> * [[File:visionoftheheavens icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Vision of the Heavens]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+300</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Seek an audience with the oldest of the Heart-Catchers}} <div>You have saved a Heart-Catcher's life, a feat few have managed. Therefore, you are permitted an audience with the first of them.</div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 29 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>The Heart-Catchers are grateful for your aid. You may visit the First of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Your first visit '''</span> <div>You are led to the roots of a gnarled Heart-Catcher and down a tunnel of stone. The Green-Fingered Old Warhorse stops. "I am permitted no further." You go on alone, into a wide space half cave and half chamber. An immense, creaking Heart-Catcher fills it.</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 40 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>[COMPLETE]You may seek audiences with the First of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:bronzewood icon.png|23px]] [[Drank of Bitter Waters]] = 1<p></p> {{trigger event|The Second Storyteller||pastscandal}}<p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Seek another audience with the first of the Heart-Catchers}} <div>The oldest of their kind resides beneath the Mimiricon. Mostly, it sleeps, but sometimes it will provide an audience to those it trusts, if they bring mysteries.</div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] β₯ 40 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>[COMPLETE]You may seek audiences with the First of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] [[Eleutherian Mystery]] β₯ 3<p></p> </ul> |<div></div> <ul> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> {{trigger event|The Second Storyteller||pastscandal}}<p></p> </ul> | |} {{Infobox story |name = The Second Storyteller |image = pastscandal.png |px = 100px |category = [[Story Event]] |type = Story |linked = |id = 299297 }} ===The Second Storyteller=== ''The oldest of the Heart-Catchers is a crooked tree, roofed with rattling leaves. Stone props support its vast branches, keeping their weight from toppling it. All but one of its heads has grown huge, grown old, and died. Now they are great, grinning skulls. The last living head rests on an altar. It is as big as you are tall: lank-haired, stone-grey, graven with wrinkles. It sleeps.'' <big>'''Interactions'''</big> {| class='ss-table' style='width:100%;' !style='width:15%;'| Actions !style='width:30%;'| Requirements !style='width:40%;'| Effects !style='width:15%;'| Notes |- | {{effect title|Ambition: Ask "What is the Courtesy?"}} <div>The Second Storyteller has seen the deaths of stars and the turn of aeons. It has mastered death. Surely it will not be afraid to answer.</div> | <ul> * [[File:maskedcitizen icon.png|23px]] [[The Citizen's Investigation]] = 40 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>Join one of Pan's factions, advance within them to access to their inner mysteries, and ask about the Courtesy</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Halfway to the truth '''</span> <div>The great head opens its eyes. It tells you a tale; slowly at first, then quicker, like a stone rolling downhill. Of a war that broke out between the stars and how, when the first star died, they paused. To end the war, they made the Courtesy: an agreement which set out the terms and rituals under which one star can kill another. And to ensure the Courtesy was kept, theyβ The Storyteller stops. If it tells you the rest if this story, it fears what you will do with it. "I have learned my lesson," it says, and will speak no more. Its eyes close. You leave. You had better tell the Masked Citizen what you have learned.</div> <ul> * [[File:maskedcitizen icon.png|23px]] [[The Citizen's Investigation]] = 50 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>Return to the Masked Citizen at King's Idyll Station</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Drink from the bitter waters}} <div>Periodically the last head has woken, and wept. The tears have scored its face, cut grooves in the altar, and worn away the floor to make a silver pool. </div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 40 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>[COMPLETE]You may seek audiences with the First of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''The witness '''</span> <div>A bowl has been set beside the pool. You drink. The waters are cold and sharp with salt. A melancholy floods you, and you slump at the pool's edge. The bowl falls from your hand. You dream. You see a blazing, golden sun, so close it fills the sky. It shudders. It dims. You watch as it draws its fires into itself, becoming sullen, crimson coals. Its surface cools, scabbing over with a black crust. Shadows flood this region of the sky. When you wake, the head's eyes β grey as ghosts β are watching you. "The story you tell might not be the one that others hear," it says. Its eyes close again.</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 50 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>[COMPLETE]You may seek audiences with the First of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> {{trigger event|The Mimiricon||bronzewood}}<p></p> </ul> | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>This will unlock a new facet you can choose when levelling up.</span>'' |- | {{effect title|Eavesdrop as it slumbers}} <div>Sometimes, the last head mutters in its sleep β archaic wisdoms and memories of ages past. </div> | <ul> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Fragments '''</span> <div>You crouch as near to the altar as you can, and listen as the Heart-Catcher stirs and mumbles in its sleep. It mutters of starlit libraries with books of fire. Of the shifting alliances of suns, and delicate wars between them. As you are preparing to leave, its eyes snap open. "The first storyteller began a war and was cast into a well," it says. "The second turned a sun to night and was cursed to live. What will the third do, and how will they end?" Then it closes its eyes, and begins to snore.</div> <ul> * [[File:momentofinspiration icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Moment of Inspiration]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+300</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> {{trigger event|The Mimiricon||bronzewood}}<p></p> </ul> | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>Gain Experience and a Moment of Inspiration, which may come in useful for some stories.</span>'' |} {{Infobox story |name = The Nepenthine Ritual |image = pastscarred.png |px = 100px |category = [[Story Event]] |type = Story |linked = |id = 299699 }} ===The Nepenthine Ritual=== ''First, you are asked to inhale mists from a copper bowl. "Vapours from the Achlaean marsh," the Old Warhorse explains. "It's for the best." Your world disjoints. Events separate into isolated moments, each untroubled by sensation or emotion. A lamp-lit grove, ringed by veiled gardeners. The heads of a Heart-Catcher looking down at you, speaking with tongues of fire. The Old Warhorse advancing with a set of garden shears...'' <big>'''Interactions'''</big> {| class='ss-table' style='width:100%;' !style='width:15%;'| Actions !style='width:30%;'| Requirements !style='width:40%;'| Effects !style='width:15%;'| Notes |- | {{effect title|Object}} <div>This was a terrible idea. </div> | <ul> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Spared '''</span> <div>The shears pause, withdraw, and slowly close. How disappointed they seem, when the firelight winks out on their edge. Later, your perception of events reassembles itself. You feel things again, things like horror and a splitting headache. The Old Warhorse's expression is neutral. "If you change your mind β again β tell us."</div> <ul> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-1</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> </ul> | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>You will be able to try again in the future.</span>'' |- | {{effect title|Observe how the firelight gleams upon the blades}} <div>Let what will be, be.</div> | <ul> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Among the branches '''</span> <div>A sharp sound, like tailor's scissors. A period of darkness. Then you are being carried, facing backwards. You can't see where you're going, but you can see what's left behind: a body, slumped among the roots of a Heart-Catcher. It does not look back at you. It cannot. Then you are lifted up and set among the branches of another Heart-Catcher. Around you dangle a gallery of stern heads. The nearest is unsmiling, distinguished, and reminds you of your aunt. This is the head you are here to help. The others cluster about it like vultures. Their cheeks are veined with green poison.</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 22 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:lantern icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-7</span> x [[Eleutherian Mystery]]<p></p> {{trigger event|One Voice among Many||sigil11}}<p></p> </ul> | |} {{Infobox story |name = One Voice among Many |image = sigil11.png |px = 100px |category = [[Story Event]] |type = Story |linked = |id = 299680 }} ====One Voice among Many==== ''"[[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers#Severed|A Friend to the Heart-Catchers(Severed)]]"''<p></p> <big>'''Trigger conditions'''</big> [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] β₯ 22 β€ 22, <br> Interactions {| class='ss-table' style='width:100%;' !style='width:15%;'| Actions !style='width:30%;'| Requirements !style='width:40%;'| Effects !style='width:15%;'| Notes |- | {{effect title|Challenge their assertion}} <div>No. No claim so simple can be true. </div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 22 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:momentofinspiration icon.png|23px]] [[Moment of Inspiration]] β₯ 1<p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''A challenge '''</span> <div>The healthy head tilts to one side. "My unexpected colleague makes a viable point. I must question your assertion. We've advised kings and Curators and Measurers. If our advice was bad, why did they return?"</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 24 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:momentofinspiration icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-1</span> x [[Moment of Inspiration]]<p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Progress of the Poison]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+100</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> </ul> | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>This course is reliable, but costs a Moment of Inspiration.</span>'' |- | rowspan='4' | {{effect title|Lend the dignified head your stubbornness}} <div>You whisper a word of encouragement. Her jaw tightens. </div> | rowspan='4' | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 22 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:hearts icon.png|23px]] [[Hearts]] challenge (<span style='color:#C03060;'>'''84'''</span> for 100%)<p></p> </ul> | style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952; background: #002020;' align='center' | <span style='color:white;'>Failed event</span> | rowspan='4' | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>If you fail, you will lose some Hearts.</span>'' |- | style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952;' | <span style='color:white'>'''A gift more than a loan '''</span> <div>Her eyes flicker towards you, but the criticism from her fellow heads is incessant. Words are not enough. "Excuse me," she mutters to you, "but I need a little of your fire." The vines squirm around you. You feel their frondules crawl into your skin, and then a sensation like suction. The distinguished head looks back to her accusers. "I question your assertion. We've advised kings and Curators and Measurers. If our advice was bad, why did they return?"</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 24 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:hearts icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Hearts]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+100</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> </ul> |- |colspan='1' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952; background: #002020;' align='center' | <span style='color:white;'>Successful event</span> |- | colspan='1' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #RAREREPL;' | <span style='color:white'>'''Examination '''</span> <div>Her eyes flicker towards you. Her lips twist in thought, and she looks back to her accusers. "I question your assertion. We've advised kings and Curators and Measurers. If our advice was bad, why did they return?"</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 24 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Progress of the Poison]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+100</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> </ul> |- | {{effect title|Conceal yourself from their sight}} <div>You've learned a trick or two in your time in the skies. </div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 24 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:unaccountablypeckish icon.png|23px]] [[Savage Secret]] β₯ 2<p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Into the shadows '''</span> <div>Using an old murderer's trick, you withdraw from the attention of the glowering heads. The one that looks like your aunt clears her throat (an achievement, given her physiology). "My associate's identity isn't important. Their point is. Absolutes aren't a helpful frame for this discussion."</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 26 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:unaccountablypeckish icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-2</span> x [[Savage Secret]]<p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Progress of the Poison]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+100</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> </ul> | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>This course is reliable, but costs a Savage Secret.</span>'' |- | rowspan='4' | {{effect title|Lend the beleaguered head your sight}} <div>You represent a fresh pair of eyes. And, admittedly, not much else at the moment. </div> | rowspan='4' | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 24 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:mirrors icon.png|23px]] [[Mirrors]] challenge (<span style='color:#C03060;'>'''84'''</span> for 100%)<p></p> </ul> | style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952; background: #002020;' align='center' | <span style='color:white;'>Failed event</span> | rowspan='4' | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>If you fail, you will lose some Mirrors.</span>'' |- | style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952;' | <span style='color:white'>'''Borrowing your eyes '''</span> <div>"Yes, I think that's what I need," the head that looks like your aunt mumbles. Vines crawl around your face. You feel their frondules unfurl, pushing their way insistently under your eyelids. A sharp pain. "Thank you, that's helpful." She turns her attention back to the other heads. "My associate's identity isn't important. Their point is. Absolutes aren't a helpful frame for this discussion."</div> <ul> * [[File:mirrors icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Mirrors]]<p></p> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 26 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+100</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> </ul> |- |colspan='1' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952; background: #002020;' align='center' | <span style='color:white;'>Successful event</span> |- | colspan='1' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #RAREREPL;' | <span style='color:white'>'''Standing her ground '''</span> <div>"Quite right." The head that looks like your aunt agrees. "My associate's identity isn't important. Their point is. Absolutes aren't a helpful frame for this discussion."</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 26 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Progress of the Poison]]<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+100</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> </ul> |- | {{effect title|Present a counterpoint}} <div>The Heart-Catchers are here to advise, not to decide. This one has done so as well as it was able. </div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 26 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:momentofinspiration icon.png|23px]] [[Moment of Inspiration]] β₯ 1<p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Close enough '''</span> <div>The head nods in its cradle of vines. "This is so. We have never given advice we knew to be false. We have not wasted our cognition on matters of no significance. We have, of course, been wrong, and will be so again. But that has to be acceptable. We don't have the privilege of certainty: we are counsellors, not priests."</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 28 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Progress of the Poison]]<p></p> * [[File:momentofinspiration icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-1</span> x [[Moment of Inspiration]]<p></p> </ul> | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>This course is reliable, but costs a Moment of Inspiration.</span>'' |- | rowspan='4' | {{effect title|Lend the last healthy head your ambition}} <div>And let her make a counter-claim to the accusations of her persecutors. </div> | rowspan='4' | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 26 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:iron icon.png|23px]] [[Iron]] challenge (<span style='color:#C03060;'>'''84'''</span> for 100%)<p></p> </ul> | style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952; background: #002020;' align='center' | <span style='color:white;'>Failed event</span> | rowspan='4' | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>If you fail, you will lose some Iron.</span>'' |- | style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952;' | <span style='color:white'>'''The sacrifice '''</span> <div>She falters in her initial points. Your encouragement is insufficient. "Forgive me," she says, and you feel briars writhe about you. The thorns dig deep, and drink of you. As she feeds on your confidence, she rallies. "We have never given advice we knew to be false. We have not wasted our cognition on matters of no significance. We have, of course, been wrong, and will be so again. But that has to be acceptable. We don't have the privilege of certainty: we are counsellors, not priests."</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 28 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:iron icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:red;'>-3</span> x [[Iron]]<p></p> </ul> |- |colspan='1' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #1D4952; background: #002020;' align='center' | <span style='color:white;'>Successful event</span> |- | colspan='1' style='border-bottom: solid 1px #RAREREPL;' | <span style='color:white'>'''Determination '''</span> <div>She falters in her initial points; you encourage her to be bold in them. She rallies. "We have never given advice we knew to be false. We have not wasted our cognition on matters of no significance. We have, of course, been wrong, and will be so again. But that has to be acceptable. We don't have the privilege of certainty: we are counsellors, not priests."</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 28 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+1</span> x [[Progress of the Poison]]<p></p> </ul> |- | {{effect title|Listen to her response}} <div>You have helped her as much as you could. Now you find out if it was enough.</div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 28 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] [[Progress of the Poison]] β₯ 1 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>One of the poisoned heads falls silent. It seems lost in thought. Are its veins less green than they were?</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''Sometimes, a stalemate is enough '''</span> <div>"I believe it more than I don't," she answers. "Marginally. And that will have to do." A couple of the other heads nod, convinced. The pinch-faced head is one of them. "Perhaps it will," he says. The green tinge has faded from his cheeks. The majority of the heads are still poisoned. The Heart-Catcher is not cured. But maybe it can manage. Some time later, during the Hour of Knots, the Green-Fingered Old Warhorse retrieves your head. There is another bloody and elaborate rite in the lamp-lit grove. With a complex series of stitches, your head is restored to your shoulders. You are left with a persistent itch, though, around the base of your neck. It will endure to the end of your days.</div> <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 29 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>The Heart-Catchers are grateful for your aid. You may visit the First of the Heart-Catchers</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] [[Progress of the Poison]] = 0<p></p> * [[File:experience icon.png|23px]] <span style='color:green;'>+500</span> x [[Experience]]<p></p> * [[File:hunger icon.png|23px]] [[Fermented]] = 1 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>The devils of Carillon claim to be experts in the assessment and improvement of the soul. They would describe yours as pungent, febrile and unappetising.</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> {{trigger event|The Mimiricon||bronzewood}}<p></p> </ul> | |- | {{effect title|Listen to her response}} <div>You have helped her as much as you could. Now you find out if it was enough.</div> | <ul> * [[File:pan icon.png|23px]] [[A Friend to the Heart-Catchers]] = 28 <span style='color:#C03060;'>[</span><span style='color:white;'>You are among the heads of a Heart-Catcher</span><span style='color:#C03060;'>]</span><p></p> * [[File:clock icon.png|23px]] [[Progress of the Poison]] β€ 0<p></p> </ul> | <span style='color:white'>'''An ending '''</span> <div>"No," she admits, and you watch the poison crawl greenly along the veins in her face. She and the other heads turn to regard you. "Now," she says, "let's talk about you." At some point, when the heads lapse into a short, brooding silence, the Green-Fingered Old Warhorse is beside you. Is he on a ladder? "Alas," he is saying, "that leaves you as the final fruit of the tree. Or the closest we've got. You're all that's keeping the poison from reaching the heartwood. We're looking for another willing to undergo the rite, but you'll just have to hold out as long as you can." The will not be another, not in time. Your fellow heads begin to stir from their thoughts. You can feel the dull ache of the poison. </div> <ul> </ul> | ''Game note: <span style='color:#C03060;'>Your captain has met their end.</span>'' |} {{Navbox Locations}} [[Category:Locations]] [[Category:Ports]] [[Category:Platforms]] [[Category:Eleutheria]]
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