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| Ambition: the Unseen Queen | |
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| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Data ID | 307757 |
Ambition: the Unseen Queen is a Sunless Skies Story Event.
Story description[]
"Visions in Silver(unseen_queen_description)"
Trigger conditions[]
Area: Limbo
Frequency: Always (100%)
Interactions[]
| Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
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| Ask about her true nature
Except for her voice, she is just a painting. Unless, of course, she is under the light of a non-existent moon. What exactly is she?
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The Queen's confession
"I am a queen," she says. "By right and by law. But I am currently... diminished. There are not many ways I can manifest in this world, except through the dreams of my questers.
"As I said, I would prefer you not see me this way. I would much prefer to speak to you in my proper throne-room, surrounded by laughter and light."
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| Something isn't right
You are beset by a nagging feeling that the world is false. But then again, everything looks ethereal under moonlight.
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Failed event |
Advanced query needs investigation |
| A momentary lapse
For just a moment, you think you can smell something rancid in the air. You look down, and see cockroaches scurrying across your boots.
But no – that must be wrong. You're in the throne-room of the Unseen Queen, and vermin would not dare afflict such a perfectly radiant court. You banish the doubts from your mind.
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| Successful event | |||
| Your head clears
The moonlight retreats like a draining lake. You realise where you actually are.
Not a castle, but a wasteland. You are surrounded by heaps of tangled junk and debris, sloughed from the city above. The beautiful veiled Queen is gone; the bustle of her court has ceased. Instead, you find yourself standing before a scrap-iron throne, upon which sits a faded portrait. You recognise her golden dress and silver crown, at least, from the Queen of your visions. But she is utterly alone, and the only noise is the buzzing of flies and the squeaking of rats.
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| Ask about the Martyr-King's Cup
You know the Dismal Chamberlain was seeking it, and that it grants immortality. But what... exactly... is it?
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Hesitation
Visions in Silver(cup_hesitate)
"I have spoken to many questers, some more informed than others. But to all of them, I say the same thing. Discovering the true nature of the Cup is a part of the quest itself. You must prove yourself worthy of knowledge. "In broad terms, however, what you must know about the Martyr-King is that he is dead. He was murdered, betrayed, and now his corpse lies beneath the Most Serene Mausoleum. You are seeking his Cup; he drank from it mere moments before he died. If you recover it, it will make you immortal." |
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| Ask the Queen for help finding the Cup |
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The Minute to Midnight
"If you begin this journey, you will be part of a very exclusive fellowship. There have been many questers for the Cup before you. Some still search to this day." She pauses. "For all, the first trial is the same. To acquire one of the Minutes of Midnight."
And what is a Minute to Midnight? "A sword of black iron, used to puncture the Martyr-King's defences before his death. To hide this crime, it was broken into innumerable fragments and dispersed on the winds. You only need one of these fragments; your best hope is to take it by force from another quester." |
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| Swear fealty to the Unseen Queen
She hasn't asked for you to make an oath, but you have decided to do so nonetheless.
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A binding oath
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| What exactly is the Stain-Beneath-Marble?
The Chamberlain's Journal was recovered by your predecessor from a stained catacomb.
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An answer
"The Mausoleum was built atop a murdered sun," says the Unseen Queen. "Is it any wonder that its foundations are corrupted? A killed human will leave bloodstains, but those are very different. Those can be cleansed."
She avoids the question of moonlight.
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| Where could you find a fellow quester?
Someone whom you can challenge, and hopefully win their fragment of an ancient sword.
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The First Trial
"You have the journal of a fellow quester in your possession, do you not? Perhaps he should serve as your first challenge.
"I sent the Chamberlain to prove his worth by battling a demon in the Brabazon Workworld. Pursue him, and challenge him for his sword."
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| Present the Unseen Queen with the Minute to Midnight
A hard-won prize, wrested from the hands of a quester already freed from death.
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A true quester
Visions in Silver(minute_midnight)
"You are a true quester now, my knight," says the Queen. "But there are more trials ahead. "Yo must retain your sight after sitting in the Blindness Throne. And you must recover the lost Cloak of the Lion, which can only be worn by a true knight."
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| Learn more about about the Blindness Throne
A throne that takes the eyes of those who sit upon it?
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The Blindness Throne
"The Throne can be found at the Inconceivable Circus, in the Reach," says the Unseen Queen. "It is enchanted so that only a quester who is worthy of recovering the Cup will be able to sit in it and keep their eyesight."
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| Learn more about the Cloak of the Lion
A cloak which was lost?
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The Cloak of the Lion
"Its existence is only a legend," says the Queen. "But it is said that it can only be worn by the quester who is destined to find the Cup. If you can recover the Cloak, you have proven that you are ready to pursue even greater treasures."
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| Show her the Cloak of the Lion |
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The Discovery of the Cloak
Visions in Silver(cloak_description)
"A magnificent artifact," murmurs the Unseen Queen. "Truly, the knight who wears this must surely be on the path to victory."
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| Tell her the tale of how you sat upon the Blindness Throne
Despite the throne's curse, you walked away with your eyesight.
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The Conquest of the Blindness Throne
Visions in Silver(throne_description)
"No doubt a story that will pass into the legend," says the Unseen Queen. "And another step closer to proving you are worthy of the Cup."
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| You have proven you are worthy of the Martyr-King's Cup
You have discovered the Cloak and survived the Throne.
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The search for the Cup
Visions in Silver(proven_worthy)
"The next step is to find where the Cup is hidden," says the Queen. "There is one other quester who knows, though she was imprisoned before she could tell me. She was one of the first and the fiercest to embark on my quest. Alas, that was many years past. She has changed beyond measure since then. "She can be found at the dread prison Piranesi, serving now as a Chaplain. Go to her, and show her the Cloak to prove you are worthy of the Cup."
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| Tell the Queen you have learned the location of the Cup
Locked in a vault within the kingdom of death. And the Grey Conformer believes accessing it is impossible.
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Concerns dismissed
"At last, we know where the Sun's Daughter has hidden her shame." The Queen doesn't sound disheartened; she sounds euphoric. "Don't worry about the Conformer's pessimism, my knight. Piranesi has altered her. She no longer understands the possibilities offered to us by dreams and moonlight. In order to access the Arbiter's vault, we shall use the Minute to Midnight."
"Precisely. But that is just a piece of the whole. We will need to unite all the scattered fragments of the Minute. Then we can use it to puncture the Arbiter's defences as she punctured my father's." She pauses, awaiting your next question.
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| How can you possibly unite all the fragments of the Minute to Midnight?
There are a thousand Minutes, in the hands of a thousand questers.
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The Queen's declaration
"I will send messengers to all my questers across the Wilderness," says the Unseen Queen. "Announcing a Grand Tournament, vast, magnificent, brutal, unlike anything seen before. Questers will face each other in honourable combat. At day's end, one victor will have collected the swords from every one of their opponents."
Visions in Silver(tournament_begins)
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| Collect the reforged Minute to Midnight
They have been gathered, melted down, and reforged as one.
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A blade reforged
Even in the real world, away from moonlight, the Minute to Midnight is now a sword. And an indisputably magnificent sword, with a blade that shimmers like oil and a vivid scarlet hilt.
"Wondrous, isn't it? But still incomplete." The Unseen Queen sounds apologetic. "There is one other fragment still remaining. The largest fragment. When it was broken up and scattered to the winds, one aspect of the Minute found a particularly apropos home. It took the place of the minute hand on the Tower of Chimes. "I need you to steal it."
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Advanced query needs investigation
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| Show her your prize
The final Minute to Midnight, wrested from the face of Albion's greatest clock. It takes three of your crew to carry it before her.
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The end of the Golden Day
"At last." The Queen stares hungrily at the minute-hand. "It's not actually a sword, of course, but a shard of sharpened time. The Arbiter created it in order to finally bring an end to my father's Golden Day. Now we'll turn it against her.
"Her vault can only be accessed by her closest Servitors working in tandem, so first we'll need to steal the flames of three different Logoi."
A Royal Presence
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| [qvd:139142(speak_to_the_queens_courtiers)]
They scurry about the Queen's throne with an air of serene purpose.
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The Queen's courtiers
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Advanced query needs investigation
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| Ask why you're having such trouble holding onto reality
Whenever you pursue the Cup you find yourself bombarded with constant visions of knights, and castles, and mournful moonlit fields.
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The slippery truth
You are having trouble holding onto the truth, you tell the Queen. Does she know why?
"What do you mean?" she asks. Every time you pursue the Cup, the world itself seems to change beneath your feet. You are transported to a bizarre alternate reality. A place where the impossible is real. "Tell me about this dream-world." It's a place where engines roar through the skies, and the stars are alive, and devils walk the streets in human guise. And while you're there, you even forget that you're a knight. A silvery laugh. "Forget these foolish dreams, dear quester. Discard them at every opportunity."
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| Leave the Queen's throne-room
There is nothing left to discuss, and you have a quest to pursue.
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