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The Grand Tournament
London ambience
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 308901

The Grand Tournament is a Sunless Skies Story Event.

Story description[ | ]

"Visions in Silver(tournament_description) "

Trigger conditions[ | ]

Area: Limbo
Frequency: Always (100%)

Interactions[ | ]

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Join the melee
You just need to take a few Minutes to Midnight for your own, and avoid getting knocked out.
    Triggers event: London ambience Melee

Indulge your paranoia
You are beset by a nagging feeling that the world is false. When you eye the spectators, you realise their expressions are too fixed.
Everything is wrong
The spectators' expressions don't change. When you speak to them, they just smile and nod, even when you shout in their faces. You feel a mounting sense of wrongness, like a hand clutching at your throat. Finally you remember who you are. Of course. You are not a knight; you were merely immersed in the Unseen Queen's moonlit mirages, which seem to be straining under the weight of the tournament's grandeur.
Slip back into fantasy
The reality of the tournament is simply depressing.
Moonlight swallows you again
It's far easier to remember what seemed right than to notice what's wrong. You close your eyes for a moment, and the delicious smell of baking bread and roast pork hits your nostrils. When you open your eyes, you are a knight once more. The tournament seems to roar in greeting.
Take part in the jousting
A circle of questers roar as you approach. "Who dares challenge me?" bellows the reigning champion.
Failed event
Defeat
Successful event
Victory
Bring the other questers back to reality
Perhaps it's cheating, but they are much easier to defeat when they're not under the delusion that they're knights.
Dishonourable victories
You roam across the wasteland, cornering solitary questers and bombarding them with unpleasant truths. You attack the way they are dressed, you point out the inadequacy of their weapons, and you pick rubbish from the ground and hurl it in their faces.

You manage to bring a few of the more weak-willed knights back to reality. As they stare around, blinking and confused, you punch them in the nose (just hard enough to further bewilder) and take their Minute to Midnight from their hands.

It's a dirty tactic, but it works again and again.
Watch a bout
For the moment, the rest of the tournament has paused. A duel is taking place in the central ring.
An honourable fight
A grizzled warrior is locked in combat with the red-haired knight who met you at the gate. As they weave and duck across the ring, their swords lash against one another like tongues of steel fire. With each successful strike, their armour rings like a bell, and the referee takes note. Finally the red-haired knight parries, twists, and knocks the sword clean from her opponent's hand. The grizzled man raises his hands in surrender, and she triumphantly collects his Minute to Midnight from the ground.
Watch a fight
For the moment, the rest of the tournament has paused. A knot of ragged questers has formed around a bizarre brawl.
An ugly bout
The questers raise their respective Minutes to Midnight. One of them is wielding a battered black umbrella, its broken spokes sticking out at unsafe angles. His opponent is wielding a length of lead pipe.

At first you might think that odds favour the man with the lead pipe. But the two questers dance back and forth, wielding their blunt instruments like swords, and the umbrella finds its mark.

The man struck by the umbrella falls prone, blood leaking from his open mouth. Concerned onlookers rush to help. In a matter of moments the fallen quester is declared dead, though you can't spot an obvious injury.
Battle a chained dragon
A group of knights drag it into the arena, raising their shields against an onslaught of flame.
Failed event
Battling a monster
The knights who dragged it into the ring turn and flee. None of the questers dare raise their weapons against such a terrible beast.

None except you. You charge forward and swing your sword, but the dragon's scales are harder than mortal steel. The dragon raises its head toward you, and as it opens its jaws, you see roiling flames within...

Just as you are about to be immolated, you wrench yourself back to reality. You realise that you are, in fact, facing off with your fountain pen against a rather large rat.

It bites you on the ankle and runs away.
Successful event
The monster is slain
The knights who dragged it into the ring turn and flee. None of the questers dare raise their weapons against such a terrible beast. None except you. You charge forward and slide beneath the scorching flames, dragging your blade from the beast's neck to its tail. Burning guts slough to the floor. You clamber to your feet triumphantly, sword aloft, while the dragon smoulders and thrashes in the throes of death.
Dedicate your performance to the Unseen Queen
A stroke of simple genius. How could the other questers have missed such an obvious way to stand out in the rankings?
Dedication
The Unseen Queen can be found at the centre of the tournament grounds, seated atop a tall throne and watching proceedings with an air of amused benevolence. At the most dramatically opportune moment, just before the bell rings for the next round of bouts, you kneel before her and pledge that all your victories will be inspired by her beauty.

She leans down and hands you the token of her favour: a silk handkerchief. The approving roar of the crowds sweeps over you.

Your next few bouts are easy to win. Rival questers see the silk handkerchief around your arm, and they quail before you.
Face your final opponent
You have triumphed, collected more swords than any other competitor – except one. It is time for you to face your final opponent.
The Final Bout
Defeated, exhausted, the questers are collecting their equipment, bandaging their injuries, and heading home. Only a dedicated few will remain and watch the final bout.

"Welcome, one and all, to the final contest," declares the Unseen Queen from her lofty perch. "Tonight, two titans will meet. Two of the finest knights to ever serve my cause. Only one will wield the united Minute to Midnight and finally find the Martyr-King's Cup."

The other finalist steps into the ring to face you. You recognise them immediately: The shaven-headed knight who greeted you at the gates. They bow, and introduce themselves as Isery.
Leave the Grand Tournament
You will be able to return later.


Links[ | ]

Links In[ | ]

London ambience Ambition: Underlondon, London ambience Melee

Links Out[ | ]

London ambience Melee, London ambience The Final Champion


Template:Navbox story events

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