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| Adaptation | |
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| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Data ID | 288337 |
Adaptation is a Sunless Skies Story Event.
Story description[]
The Chaplains stalk among the prisoners, offering advice on how to change. But Piranesi is vast, and many of the wandering prisoners have only encountered them in rumour and legend. They pass on stories of the Chaplains in reverent whispers, as though they speak of gods or phantoms. Thanks to your tours, however, you know exactly where to find them.
Trigger conditions[]
Location: Piranesi
Area: Limbo
Frequency: Always (100%)
Interactions[]
| Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask the Glib Performer for help
You climb up a winding staircase to find him dancing among the gargoyles.
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The Performer's Advice
"Follow my example!" advises the Performer, nonchalantly juggling coins. "Shuck your scruples like a stifling skin. Learn to loathe the faces of your family. Lose the ability to tell fact from fiction. Spin lies from truth and truth from lies. Hurt people just to see the bruise. It's all good fun, I assure you."
He leads you to a dismal alcove where prisoners are playing cards. The faces in the deck are ones you recognise – your friends, rivals, parents, past lovers. "Play to win," advises the Performer, and leaves you.
 Incarceration
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| Ask the Glistening Deformer for help
You descend to the warrens and find him extricating a broken figure from a narrow tunnel.
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The Deformer's Advice
"Enter the warrens," says the Deformer. "Take an interesting shape. But you hesitate, hm? Not ready. Never mind. There are other ways."
"I used to be handsome." The warts on his neck blossom like flowers. "Yet I never could meet my eyes in the mirror. Now I can stare for hours. That's the first change you must make: Be fascinated by revulsion. Seek beauty in abomination." He takes you to a part of Piranesi you've never seen: A maze of mirrors. Your reflections sport tusks, beak-clusters, eyes like pits of slime, or any one of innumerable other mutations. It is hours before you find the exit.
Incarceration
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| Ask the Grey Conformer for help
Down to the black-flooded cellars, where you find her instructing a shrieking wretch in the correct use of cutlery.
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The Conformer's Advice
"Forget," advises the Conformer. "Once you are a blank slate, I will teach you all you need to know."
She sits you down for a preliminary lesson. Hands behind her back, she delivers a dry lecture on the accepted ways to ask a gentleman to dance; the proper ways to address a bishop; and the hours at which it is not impolite to feel melancholy. Her voice drains the blood from your limbs. You have forgotten your first kiss. You find yourself no longer able to imagine colours.
Incarceration
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| Ask the Gallant Reformer for help
You find your way to the statue garden, where he is leading a group of prisoners in song.
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The Reformer's Advice
The Reformer holds up a hand, and the prisoners pause their hymn. He fixes you with a placid stare and quizzes you about the sins of your past. With every new confession, he tuts quietly.
Once he's heard enough, he leads you to a tranquil pond in the middle of the statuaries. The flagstones are stained red. He hands you a cat-o'-nine-tails. "A remarkable whip," he says. "Its crack is instantaneous to the observer, but to the punished, it lasts a month. One month of searing pain. Plenty of time for you to contemplate your misdeeds. I leave it up to you whether you use it."
Incarceration
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| Beg the Reformer to take your place
If anyone would be your scapegoat, surely it would be this most kind-hearted of Chaplains?
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Substitution
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| Trick the Glib Performer into imprisonment
Extract your revenge.
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Failed event | |
| A Dismal Failure
You follow and shout his name, but the Performer doesn't look back. "Do I look like I was born yesterday?" he asks. "Prisoners have been trying to trick me into breaking the rules for years. It doesn't go well for them."
From that point on, he's a constant menace. Poking and prodding, sneering and laughing, chucking coins and cold water at you when you try to sleep. You didn't think it was possible for Piranesi to get any worse, but he tries his best.
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| Successful event | |||
| His Final Performance
You follow him at a distance, slipping between shadows, concealing your lamp beneath your coat. He mocks, he laughs, he leaps from ledge to ledge. You observe that he crosses a particular wooden bridge at least twice a trip. Instead of sleeping, you sit up all night with a saw.
The next morning, the bridge lurches beneath his feet. You shout his name, and in a panic he breaks the First Rule of Piranesi. He looks back. A lamp swings from his wrist, chains clanking. The Performer wails in horror, imprisoned once more. This hasn't improved your chances of escape, but perhaps it was satisfying. Game note: The Glib Performer has been imprisoned!
Incarceration
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| On second thoughts...
The Chaplains cannot save you.
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Incarceration
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Links[]
Links In[]
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