| The Old Zailors | |
|---|---|
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| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Data ID | 241434 |
The Old Zailors is a Sunless Sea Story Event.
Story description[]
Silvery brine laps around your waist, as real as the afterimage of a firework. The younger of the Old Zailors sit beside you at the edge, suddenly thirsty for stories of the world they left behind. Most of the rest just float in silent meditation, long past caring.
Trigger conditions[]
The Old Zailors is triggered when you do the Join the Old Zailors action or fail the Return to the main chamber in 
The Gant Chamber .
Interactions[]
| Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditate on the Gant
The Old Zailors don't simply sleep in its embrace. |
A story not yet fully told
You close your eyes and sink deeper into the lake, letting it lap over your ears and cancel out all sound and distraction. Your heartbeat slows. A life of weariness tugs at your eyelids, and soon there is only blackness with a silver aftertaste. Some time later, you awaken far from the Old Zailors, in a previously unexplored ventricle. Hours later. Perhaps days. The cold air of the Gant Pole prickles your bare skin. Your fingertips burn. Handwritten text glimmers in the darkness, not all of it legible. A tale of a Heart torn from its owner. A melancholy that calls to those whose stories are over and grants them an end.  That's all for now
 +50 x Fragment
 +1 x Zee-ztory
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| Bring Recent News to the Old Zailors
The younger ones, anyway, whose curiosity remains. |
 1 x Recent News
|
Tales from above
You share the latest news with the zailors who will still listen. It takes a while. Most stories demand a little more setting up than anticipated. "London? What happened to London?" whispers one. The pull of the Gant Pole is strong. For many it began on the Surface, long before the Cumaean Canal made travel to the Neath so convenient or seemingly possible. Yet still they found their way here. All the old beasts of every zee know where to die. |
|
| Take a sample of Gant from the pool
There must be something infused with its impossible colour. |
The absence of colour, the presence of form
You fish into the pool. A few stones of no worth. Discarded rags sunk to the bottom. Your hand closes on something sharp. This will suffice.  +1 x Star-Shell
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| Share your secrets
New arrivals have no need for them. The Old Zailors await yours. |
Stories of blood and salt
Few have seen more than a gathering of zailors, both of the zee below and the endless blue above. Life sparks briefly in the eyes of the more recent arrivals to this place as they recite memories of battles and escapes. The older ones speak with the whisper of the grave. Their eyes stay closed, imparting half-remembered stories of the city with the silver tree. The oldest have few coherent memories left, save a shared one of a crossroads shaded by cedars. -5 x Zee-ztory
-2 x Intriguing Snippet
 +1 x Extraordinary Implication
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| A request from an Old Zailor
They have given up their lives above. Most of them. |
"My grandson. Check in on him for me."
A guilty request from the youngest of the Old Zailors. "The poor lad's head was full of stories. Wet behind the ears from the day he was born, but that didn't stop him heading to Gaider's Mourn to seek his fortune. Last I heard he'd run off and signed on as cabin boy with some Khanate captain. Just make sure he's keeping well?"  Gant Pole: A Message From The Dead = 1 [You have been asked to deliver a message to Gaider's Mourn]
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| Climb out of the Gant Pool
That was relaxing. But now, duty calls. |
A pleasant break
Your limbs still tingle with warmth as you climb out of the pool. The Old Zailors pay you no heed as you dress and head back to the Gant Pole's main chamber.
 The Gant Pole
|
Game note: The more time you spend around the Old Zailors, the more difficult it may be to leave their company. | |
| Climb out of the Gant Pool
No. Not yet. Another five minutes. Ten at most. |
 Hearts challenge (Special for 100%)
 Gant Pole: The Secrets Old Zailors Keep ≥ 3
|
Failed event | Special is calculated as follows: 1.67 * (50 + 10*Gant Pole: The Secrets Old Zailors Keep)
Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.
|
| Back to the terrors of the zee
The hunger. The knives in the dark. The eyes watching from afar. You climb out of the pool, shaking for reasons that have nothing to do with the ice-cold air on your skin. The worst of it has faded by the time you are finished getting dressed, but the regret continues echoing with each step back to your unfinished life.  Gant Pole: The Secrets Old Zailors Keep x Terror
Triggers event: The Gant Pole
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| Successful event | |||
| Force of will
These zailors have reached the end of their stories. Yours promises far more than just fading away in obscurity. Gritting your teeth, you pull yourself free from the pool's seductive warmth and comfort, dress, and begin the long walk back to your life.
The Gant Pole
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Links[]
Links In[]
Links Out[]