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The Bridges and Balconies
Piranesi ambience
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 287892

The Bridges and Balconies is a Sunless Skies Story Event.

Story description[ | ]

"Come!" The Performer leads you up a staircase so steep it rapidly becomes a ladder. "Down below, the others stop me having my fun." At the top, you find yourself among bridges and precarious ledges. Vapour swirls below your feet. The Performer dances across dizzying drops, and when you come upon a cluster of prisoners, he begins tripping and prodding them with glee. One is knocked from her perch, and only saved when she clings to a gargoyle. "Join in," he says. "It's a terrible good time."

Trigger conditions[ | ]

Piranesi icon Piranesi: Been Told About the Rules ≥ 1
Location: Piranesi
Area: Limbo
Frequency: Always (100%)

Interactions[ | ]

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Write a Port Report
See what scraps of information you can glean from the Performer's witterings .
The Bridges and Balconies
The Performer sits on the edge of a balcony, legs kicking above a stomach-churning drop, and launches into a dozen unlikely stories of Piranesi – prisoners turned to moaning jelly, angels made of clustered hands, a sun in chains. He ends most of his tales unceremoniously, without coherent conclusion or explanation, skipping immediately to another. Fact is impossible to untangle from fiction. When you take out your pen and make notes of his ramblings, the Performer claps his hands in amused delight. His grin somehow broadens. "I'd forgotten this! Reminds me of old times. What will you tell them of me, I wonder?"
Press the Performer for information
What can he tell you about Piranesi and the other Chaplains?
The Glib Performer
He produces a string of colourful handkerchiefs from his sleeve and wraps them around your neck, just tight enough to squeeze. "The other Chaplains are extremely dull," he says. "Why don't we talk about something fascinating, like the patterns upon moths, or gentrification, or the sawing apart of an elderly widower?"
Help him torment the prisoners
"That's the spirit!" declares the Performer, poking an old lady firmly in the eye.
Failed event
The Glib Performer
You can't bring yourself to truly torment the prisoners, and settle for prodding them gently and making awkward jokes at their expense. Nevertheless, the Performer seems satisfied. He grins and leads you further up a spiral staircase.
Successful event
The Glib Performer
You wrack your brain, and soon come up with torments that you suspect will amuse the Performer. You dangle prisoners over lengthy drops by their ankles, or lift them bodily and leave them on high ledges from which they can't escape.

By the time you're finished, there are tears of laughter streaming from the Performer's empty eyes. "This reminds me of an old joke," he says. "Why didn't the skeleton go to the dance?"

You reply that you don't know.

"Because years earlier, he was murdered by his tour guide!" The Performer beams and leads you further up a spiral staircase.
Refuse to mistreat the prisoners
You're not a brute. Not without reason.
Stranded
"I understand," says the Performer. "Not everyone enjoys my little games. We should ascend."

He bows low and sweeps his arm. "After you."

As you walk past him, you feel a cold draught of air at your back. When you turn, he is gone. You're stranded deep within a prison the size of a continent, and you're alone.
Help him torment the prisoners
"That's the spirit!" declares the Performer, poking an old lady firmly in the eye.
Failed event
The Glib Performer
You can't bring yourself to truly torment the prisoners, and settle for prodding them gently and making awkward jokes at their expense. "A pathetic effort!" declares the Performer. "Uninspired! Lazy!" He catches you off-guard with a sudden shove, sending you flying off the edge of a bridge. Fortunately your coat snags on a gargoyle, but it takes you many hours to clamber down and find your way to the exit.
Successful event
The Glib Performer
You wrack your brain, and soon come up with torments that you suspect will amuse the Performer. You dangle prisoners over lengthy drops by their ankles, or lift them bodily and leave them on high ledges from which they can't escape.

By the time you're finished, the Performer is laughing uproariously. "Do you know why I got rid of my eyes?" he asks.

"So I couldn't see what I had become!" He laughs again, and begins to descend. "Come on, I'm taking you back outside. No refunds."
Refuse to mistreat the prisoners
You're not a brute. Not without reason.
The Glib Performer
"You're exceedingly dull," says the Performer. "I can think of ways to make you fun, but the other Chaplains would take umbrage. Come on. I'm taking you back out. No refunds."
Recruit some wandering prisoners to join the Psalmists at the White Well
If you help them escape, they'll join whatever obscure sect you like.
Failed event
Chained and unchanged
The prisoners stare at you with blank faces when you talk about the Judas Psalm. Their lanterns stay stubbornly chained to their wrists. It seems Piranesi wasn't as fertile a ground for converts as you'd hoped.
Successful event
Changed and unchained
You sit down and talk to a group of prisoners about change. Specifically, conversion. You talk about the Judas Psalm, and the power of cursing, and the joy of spite. You talk until your voice is a hoarse whisper.

The Performer sits precariously on a balcony's edge, punctuating your sentences with the occasional manic laugh.

It takes a long time, but some of the prisoners come round to the Psalmists' creed. A few lanterns fall from a few wrists. The redeemed-in-spite dash for the exit, promising to board your train outside.

Links[ | ]

Links In[ | ]

Chippedmugoftea The Chaplains, Piranesi ambience The Rules of Piranesi

Links Out[ | ]

Piranesi ambience A Crumbling Arch, Piranesi ambience Stranded, Chippedmugoftea The Chaplains


Template:Navbox story events

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