| Old Tom's Well | |
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| Old Tom's Well (Sidebar) | |
| Located in | The Reach |
| Ports | None |
Old Tom's Well is a Discovery in the outer circle of The Reach.
When nearby, it has the same effect on Terror as a Horror spectacle. When above the well, you will be prompted to "Approach" by pressing R, beginning the storylets.
Log Entries[]
"Careful, Captain," a signaller whispers. "Lest the well-winds take us."
The well's depths are as black as a strangler's heart.
Well-winds ravage the sky. Your hull groans. Someone is praying.
The well is black as ink from the devil's pot. "Turn back, captain.", a crewman pleads.
The Incautious Driver looks pained. "This must be the Well. The thing in my head— it's screaming."
Well-wind turbulence. The crew looks terrified; the Incautious Driver, thrilled.
Well-wind turbulence. The Aunt clucks. "I did tell you all to hold on."
Well-wind turbulence. The Chiropterous Hoarder prowls the ship, rippling its wings with joy.
Well-wind turbulence. The Princess's luggage concusses the quartermaster.
Well-wind turbulence. The Rat Brigade is sent flying, squeaking in protest.
Well-wind turbulence. The Repentant Devil is the only left one standing.
Well-wind turbulence. The Signalman almost smiles.
Old Tom's Well[]
| Approaching Old Tom's Well | |
|---|---|
| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Data ID | 275533 |
Approaching Old Tom's Well[]
Below, beneath the scudding clouds, a speckle of structures cling to a shelf of ice. The well-winds drag at your engine like the frantic clutch of a drowning man. The well gapes.
Interactions
| Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descend
The winds howl. You'll need a steady hand at the helm.
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Failed event | Advanced alteration value probably needs examination.
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| A velocitous descent
Down, through the tearing mists. Through the whipped particulates that thunder on your hull. Through the shrieking winds, which fall abruptly still. A ledge of black ice has accreted over centuries at the well's edge, with only a raised lip affording a sliver of shelter.
The landing is more abrupt than you intended. As you regain your feet, you hope that sickening crunch was the ice, not your hull. A handful of beehive huts huddle around a crude church, built from roughly-chopped blocks of the same black ice that forms the shelf around the well.
Old Tom's Well
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| Successful event | |||
| A descent
Down, through the tearing mists. Through the whipped particulates that thunder on your hull. Through the shrieking winds, which fall abruptly still. A ledge of black ice has accreted over centuries at the well's edge, with a raised lip that affords a sliver of shelter.
A handful of beehive huts huddle around a crude church. They are built from roughly-chopped blocks of the same black ice that forms the shelf around the well.
Old Tom's Well
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| Depart
There is nothing good here.
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The stokers strain, and your locomotive spurns the winds' grasp. Away!
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| Old Tom's Well | |
|---|---|
| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Data ID | 275541 |
Old Tom's Well[]
Old Tom was a prospector during the Promised Days that followed London's arrival in the heavens. For years he combed the Reach, looking for the strike that would make him rich. He didn't find it.
Luckless and impoverished, he made a wish here, at the well. The next month, he discovered the Mother of Mountains and the rich hour-veins that riddled her flanks. For a year – before his disappearance – he was staggeringly wealthy.
Others come here now – the desperate and the broken – with their final, futile wishes.
Interactions
| Actions | Requirements | Effects | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambition: Descend into the well in the Baroness' bathysphere
It will take more than a day to prepare the equipment, and anchor the winch and pulley. Your crew will remain behind to man it, while you and the Baroness descend into the well.
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Before the fall
The assembly is difficult. The well-winds howl, dragging any unsecured tools or equipment over the edge. The cold bites, freezing fingers and faces. Picks and hammers break on the packed black ice.
Eventually, the machinery is ready, the bathysphere poised at the well's edge. Below it is the roiling, thirsty depth: blacker than oil, blacker than pitch, blacker than the space between the stars. "Do you know," the Baroness says, in a low voice only you can hear. "I'm not certain I can do this."
The Bones of the Sun
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Tell her she can stay here
You can do it alone.
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She blinks. "Goodness, no," she remarks, and without further hesitation clambers into the bathysphere. "The very thought of sending anyone alone into that. I don't know what came over me."
She checks gauges and dials as you squeeze into the second seat. One of your officers closes the hatch, shutting you in. There is a sense of sudden vertigo as the sphere swings out over the well. Then, with a jerk, you begin to descend.
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| Encourage her
When is she going to get another chance to explore the inside of a well?
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"Quite right, quite right," she says, with a weak smile. "Let's get it over with, shall we?"
She clambers in, checking gauges and dials as you squeeze into the second seat. One of your officers closes the hatch, shutting you in. There is a sense of sudden vertigo as the sphere swings out over the well. Then, with a jerk, you begin to descend.
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| Say nothing and climb in
She can follow or not, as she chooses.
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You strap yourself into one of the seats. A minute later the Baroness clambers in, sitting herself in the seat behind you. "Let's not talk about it, please," she says, and begins to check dials and gauges.
One of your officers closes the hatch, shutting you in. There is a sense of sudden vertigo as the sphere swings out over the well. Then, with a jerk, you begin to descend.
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| Amiable Vagabond: Journey to the well's edge with Old Tom
The Lank Minister is waiting for you, surrounded by a threadbare gaggle of her parishioners.
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 Old Tom and the Well
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| Escort the Incautious Driver to the Well
The fungal sentience colonising their mind has led them here. But why?
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The driver, driven
The Incautious Driver strides to the very lip of the Well and leans precariously out to stare into the depths. The well-winds pluck at them. You grab a handful of their coat, just in case.
"Can you see them, Addressed As(SpeechFormal)? Glimmering in the dark? The bones of the sun!" The Driver looks back at you, their eyes suddenly as green as old emeralds. "A Messenger came, inscribed with signs of peace. But it bore a well-seed. Murder beneath the arches of heaven!" The Driver's balance shifts. They lurch, and you pull them back onto the gritty ice. When they look up, their eyes have returned to their customary blue. "Thank you. My head is feeling very crowded. But the impulse has changed now. I need to return to the Nature Reserve. Its home is there. Or its parents? Its master? Not sure. I don't speak fungus."
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| Enter the kirk
A simple, leaning tower and nave constructed from black, unmortared ice bricks. A voice can be heard within.
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Across the ice
The ice crunches underfoot, caking your boots with a pitchy crust. There is no door on the church.
The Pitchkirk
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| Explore the beehive hovels
They serve as temporary homes to those who have come to make a wish at the well.
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Barnacles, clinging to the edge
The sky churns as you make your way to the pitiful domes. Most are empty, awaiting a well-wisher. But the third one is not. It contains a corpse, stiff as an icicle – some supplicant who died before their wish was granted. You move on. In the fifth dwelling you find a sallow petitioner, her eyes feverish. "I saw gold in the well," she croaks, unprompted. "Glistering in the deeps!"
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| Take a sample of the black ice
The Phlegmatic Researcher in the Leadbeater & Stainrod Nature Reserve had better pay well for this. Or, at least, he had better learn something interesting.
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A sample
Not even the ice of Old Tom's Well can withstand the teeth of a strong saw. You cut through it easily, until you've a solid block of ice with which to present the Researcher.
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| Take a sample of the black ice
The Phlegmatic Researcher in the Leadbeater & Stainrod Nature Reserve had better pay well for this. Or, at least, he had better learn something interesting.
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A sample
Not even the ice of Old Tom's Well can withstand the teeth of a strong saw. You cut through it easily, until you've a solid block of ice with which to present the Researcher.
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| Depart
Return to your engine. Leave this place.
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Away!
You use steaming water from the boiler to melt away the ice that clings to the windows. Then you depart, your locomotive heaving as the winds try to drive you into the well's yawning mouth.
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Links[]
Links In[]
Approaching Old Tom's Well, The Pitchkirk
Links Out[]
The Pitchkirk, 
The Bones of the Sun
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