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| A Word Written in Lightning | |
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| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Data ID | 313857 |
A Word Written in Lightning is a Sunless Skies Story Event.
Story description[]
It was lying in wait: a sigil, scratched on the sky in blazing light. There is no cloud, no thunder. Only this wayward lightning. It forks, reaching out bright, jagged arms.
You have heard of such wandering lightnings. Superstitious skyfarers say they are heralds or escapees from the Storm that Speaks.
Trigger conditions[]
Area: Limbo
Frequency: Always (100%)
Interactions[]
| Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flee!
Can you outrun the lightning?
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Failed event | Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.
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| No
The lightning, though lost and mad, is as swift as you. It clings to your tail, stabbing arcs of jagged fire at your engine. The electricity courses through your hull. Your teeth feel like they have been welded together, your senses desert you for a moment.
Then the lightning loses interest, and expends its wrath on a passing disgruntlement of cantankeri. You make your escape.
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| Successful event | |||
| Escape
You bark orders. Your stokers shovel more fuel, while your driver swings your engine around a sharp corner, manoeuvring tons of protesting steel and bronzewood with deft desperation. Then it's full steam, and you jet through the sky like an arrow. The lightning is left behind, a sullen flicker in the rear windows.
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| Partial success event (5%) | |||
| Barely
The lightning gives chase. An arc flashes out, stabbing through a crew cabin. The corridors fill with the reek of burned copper.
Your driver wrestles your engine behind the brief safety of one sky-rock, and then another. A sudden change of course throws you to the floor. But you have escaped the lightning, which stabs at the sky and rages in anguish.
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| Embrace it
Soar into the lightning. Endure its fury. Decipher its message.
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Failed event | Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.
Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.
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| Old Albion
Arcs of lightning crawl across the iron of your locomotive. Sparks spray like flocks of fireflies. Your crew shriek. The smell of hot copper fills your nose. Then the force of the lightning blasts you from your feet. Your body spasms, while your mind floods with sights that are not your own.
A heaven, more full of stars. A temple, thronged by slender entities with swan-like necks. At its heart is a ring of twelve tall stones, like a henge. Snow is falling. There is more, but when you awake, the details are already fading. You cling to them as best you can.
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| Successful event | |||
| To tame the lightning
The lightning leaps at your locomotive. Your crew scream. Sparks rain. You grasp an iron handrail, and the lightning stabs into you. It roars through your nerves, and obliterates your thoughts. You see a stuttering sequence of images plucked from your past, as sharp and immediate as if you were living them for the first time. Then they are seared away. Your senses, scorched, flee.
When you recover, amidst the sparking wreckage of your engine, you can still feel the lightning, coiled under your tongue. You could speak it, if you chose.
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Links[]
Links In[]
You Are Not Where You Thought You Were
Links Out[]
Template:Navbox story events