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The White Well
Whitewell ambience
The White Well (Sidebar)
Located in the Blue Kingdom
Ports The Stone-Faced Court
Shops The Rag-and-Bone

The White Well is a station in the Blue Kingdom, located north-west from Sky Barnet.

Guide[ | ]

Captains of any status can visit the bazaar and shops.  

Invisible, Antedeceased or Ephemera captains can enter The Stone-Faced Court.

Entering requires a pass, good for 30 days, which costs 3 Casks of Navaratine Gemstones, 1 Testament of Roses or having a litigator.

This location leads to The Stone-Faced Court.

Log Entries[ | ]

Here judgement is pronounced and sentence executed.
The Watcher-in-the-Well holds dominion here over the quick and the dead.

The Conductor has a suggestion "Why don't we leave your Aunt—" The rest is lost under the barrage of her handbag.
The Eccentric shivers as you near the White Well. "Let's not stay long, Captain." She withdraws to the engine room.
The Fatalistic Signalman peers at the Well. "'I suppose we've seen the worst of it all now', I was just thinking to myself. Happier times."
The Inconvenient Aunt frowns at the well. "There are quicker ways of getting rid of people."
The Repentant Devil observes the White Well. "A simple and effective punishment." His tone is one of grudging admiration.
"I hope you have no intention of leaving me here," the Forged Companion says, in a calculatedly neutral tone.

The Stone-Faced Court[ | ]

Half-ziggurat, half-fortress, the Court is where spirits go to face judgement before they meet their end. A meek little city has sprung up around it almost by default.


Urd
Maskedshade
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 303358

Urd[ | ]

A quietly frostbitten city that clings like a scab to the White Well. Masked dead wander its ice-sheathed streets, going wherever dead people go. A statue crumbles on every corner, subjecting passers-by to forbidding stone glares.
At Urd's centre looms the Stone-Faced Court, where the dead are judged. A ziggurat wide as a mountain, as tall as a stack of castles. Urd's population are mostly waiting for permission to enter.

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Seek entry to the Stone-Faced Court
A queue of thousands of masked spirits stretches out from the gates and winds up and down a dozen streets, through buildings and over rooftops.
Skipping the line
Most of the population of Urd, it seems, are holding a place in the tangled queue. You see spirits departing and re-joining, silently tapping each other in and out. No one pushes. No one cuts in. An unfathomable etiquette is at work. When you ask a spirit near the front how long they've been waiting, they just shrug.
Advanced query needs investigation


Enter the Stone-Faced Court
You will need an entry pass from the Administrator in order to skip the queue.
Advanced query needs investigation


Seek entry to the Stone-Faced Court
A queue of thousands of masked spirits stretches out from the gates and winds up and down a dozen streets, through buildings and over rooftops.
Entry denied
A woman sits in a booth beside the gates to the Court. At least, you think she's a woman. The flesh above her collarbone has been carefully trimmed away, leaving a picked-clean skull with gemstones in its sockets. She grins more fixedly than one might expect, even from a skull.

"The Court is no place for you, dear," trills the Unreasonably Chirpy Administrator. "The Yoked are not permitted. Only the Graven may take care of important affairs within the Stone-Faced Court."

Game note: You cannot enter the Court when your Status is Yoked.

Advanced query needs investigation


Enter the Stone-Faced Court
You will need an entry pass from the Administrator in order to skip the queue.
Entry denied
The gates do not open for you.

"The Court is no place for you, dear," trills the Unreasonably Chirpy Administrator. "The Yoked are not permitted, entry pass notwithstanding. Only the Graven may take care of important affairs within the Stone-Faced Court."

Game note: You cannot enter the Court when your Status is Yoked.

Advanced query needs investigation


Enter the Stone-Faced Court
You will need an entry pass from the Administrator in order to skip the queue.
Advanced query needs investigation


Mingle in the crowds approaching the staircase
There are endless numbers of them.

Advanced query needs investigation


Meet the Exacting Ombudsman
He gave you directions to a coffee-house.



A Bit of a Wait
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 303361

A Bit of a Wait[ | ]

A woman sits in a booth beside the gates. At least, you think she's a woman. The flesh above her collarbone has been carefully trimmed away, leaving a picked-clean and perfectly bald skull with gemstones in its sockets. She grins more fixedly than one might expect, even from a skull.
"It's a bit of a wait, dear," says the Unreasonably Chirpy Administrator.

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Offer a tithe of Navaratine Gemstones

You are not here to petition, but as a guest. And as a guest, you can skip the queue - if you brought a gift.

A tithe of gems

Proper formalities must be observed. The Administrator steps from her booth, bows deeply, and tells you that she can't possibly accept such a gift. It is your prerogative, of course, to insist that she does. Oh no, she says, she couldn't possibly. The back-and-forth is relentless.
Finally, defeated, she recites the Blue Kingdom's Thirteenth Customary Gratitude Rite, then begins eagerly examining the gems for flaws.

Ask your Litigator to intercede on your behalf

Your champion glides forward, smoothing, flattering, placating.

The Litigator's intervention

Litigator: the Cowled Loquacitor(sfc_entry)Litigator: the Embittered Devil(sfc_entry)Litigator: the Nameless Spirit(sfc_entry)

"Your entry permission lasts one month only," says the Administrator, stamping a certificate and handing it to you.

    Calendar icon Date: Your permission to enter the Stone-Faced Court is valid for 30 days after it was issued.
    Triggers event: Maskedshade Urd
Submit a Testament of Roses

By filling out some paperwork and providing insurmountable proof of your soul's good character, you can skip to the front of the queue.

An unimpeachable reference
The Administrator takes a single bored glance at your Testament before stuffing it into a drawer. "Begin with the Sixty-fourth Petition for Penumbral Consideration to wet your palate, then you can move on to the less interesting applications," she says with immense relish, stacking wax tablets in a teetering pile. "If your hand starts to cramp, I can fetch one bucket of ice. But you must return the ice." Several miles of engraving later, you are finished. "Your entry permission expires in one month," she says, stamping a certificate and handing it to you.
Never mind

You're not entering the Stone-Faced Court any time soon.

    Triggers event: Maskedshade Urd


A Dutiful Chaperone
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 303373


A Dutiful Chaperone[ | ]

Blue Kingdom Status(met_by_official_stone_faced_court) Blue Kingdom Status(met_by_official2)

Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Follow the Carious Official
"Spirits are obliged to pretend that they can't see you, which could make for some excellent pranks, if that were permitted. Which it is not."
Unremitting stone
Your footsteps ring out as you walk through the labyrinthine corridors of the Stone-Faced Court. The bleak stone catches the echo and magnifies it a hundredfold. "Delightful, aren't they?" mutters the Official as you walk past a row of misshapen gargoyles. The Court is vast and cold and almost entirely empty, unless you count the statues. Everywhere you look there are statues, in varying states of decay.
Follow the Carious Official
"The Court is freezing, so wrap up warm. Wouldn't want you catching your death. Ha, ha, ha. A little Blue Kingdom humour, there."
Unremitting stone
Your footsteps ring out as you walk through the labyrinthine corridors of the Stone-Faced Court. The bleak stone catches the echo and magnifies it a hundredfold. "Delightful, aren't they?" mutters the Official as you walk past a row of misshapen gargoyles. The Court is vast and cold and almost entirely empty, unless you count the statues. Everywhere you look there are statues, in varying states of decay.
Follow the Exacting Ombudsman
"Before I take you to the trials, I have a favour to ask."
Follow the Exacting Ombudsman
"It's excellent to meet you for the very first time!" You suspect that if the Ombudsman wasn't wearing a mask, he would be exaggeratedly winking.



A Designated Chaperone
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 304316


A Designated Chaperone[ | ]

The Carious Official sighs deeply when he meets you at the gates. He has a thick folder under one arm with your name on the front. "No one else wants to deal with you, you know. You're everywhere at once, you change your Status like a pair of underpants, people disappear around you. So guess who's lumped with being your designated guide for the foreseeable, rain or shine? Muggins here."


Interactions

Actions Requirements Effects Notes
Follow the Carious Official
"I don't even have the energy to make jokes any more," says the Official. "If I had hair, you'd have turned it grey."
Follow the Carious Official
"I don't even have the energy to make jokes any more," says the Official. "If I had hair, you'd have turned it grey."
Follow the Carious Official
"So you're Ephemera now, is that it?" asks the Official gloomily. "They don't usually let me deal with Ephemera. I get lumped with the oddballs."




The Exacting Ombudsman
Chippedmugoftea
Category Story Event
Type Story
Data ID 305586

The Exacting Ombudsman[ | ]

The Ombudsman asked you to meet him at a coffee-house in Urd, where masked spirits silently contemplate empty cups and remember what coffee was like.

Storylet Name Unlocked With Effects Notes
Approach the Ombudsman's table

He's twitchy. He's abrupt. He's rude to the waitress. He clearly doesn't enjoy all this skulduggery.

The Chorea Machabaeorum

"I interrogated the Jewelled Judge for hours and all I got out of her was a selection of inoffensive anecdotes." The Ombudsman shakes his head solemnly. "She's a tough nut to crack, that's for sure. But I have a plan.
"Every few months, the Graven go to a grand ball called the Chorea Machabaeorum. It's rare for outsiders to attend - and they know about my investigation, so there's no way I'll be invited. But if there's anywhere the Judge will let her guard down and speak freely, it's there. Report back as soon as you have discovered a clue."

Ask the Ombudsman how you can obtain an invitation

The Chorea Machabaeorum is usually off-limits to all except the Graven, but the Ombudsman has an idea. He leans in conspiratorially.

The Ombudsman's plan

"I happen to know that the Carious Official has received an invitation to the Machabaeorum, but he doesn't plan to attend," says the Ombudsman.
"I expect he'll be happy to give it to you. In order to get him to meet you, though, your Status must be Invisible or Antedeceased... So I suppose that's impossible." He sighs. "In which case you'll need to flatter the Judge with a gift of gemstones and hope she sees fit to invite you."

Tell the Exacting Ombudsman the truth

The Watcher is dead, his judgements counterfeit.

    Pastscandal icon Corruption at the Court = [Tell the Ombudsman the truth about the Watcher, or lie to him and end his investigation now]
The truth is out

"I knew it!" declares the Ombudsman, leaping to his feet. "Rest assured, my vindication only somewhat dampens my outrage! I am going to travel at once to the Forge of Souls to present my findings."
He pulls from his robes a flawless diamond, the size of a horse's heart. "Here. It's just a transparent rock containing no souls at all, but I believe it has some kind of symbolic value where you come from? Hopefully it's enough to recompense you for your time."

Lie to the Exacting Ombudsman

The Graven are still hearing the Watcher in their polished ivory heads, same as always.

    Pastscandal icon Corruption at the Court = [Tell the Ombudsman the truth about the Watcher, or lie to him and end his investigation now]
An oddly disappointed Ombudsman

"Oh," says the Ombudsman, standing and collecting his things. "Good. That's a good thing. After all, it would be dreadful if I had actually been on the brink of uncovering a vast and terrifying conspiracy. I suppose I'll return to the Forge of Souls and present our findings."

Lure the Ombudsman to his demise at the bottom of the well

The Watcher's spirit lingers down there, you lie, but in a much-reduced state. It could perish at any minute.

    Pastscandal icon Corruption at the Court = [Tell the Ombudsman the truth about the Watcher, or lie to him and end his investigation now]
A hero's mission

"Then I must rescue the poor soul at once! Meet me at Wellmouth!" The Ombudsman leaps to his feet and rushes from the coffee-house.

Leave the coffee-house

You leave the Ombudsman brooding over his empty cup.

    Triggers event: Maskedshade Urd

Shops[ | ]

The Rag–and–Bone

A market for the cast-offs of the prisoners held in the Well. The Graven who run the stalls regard you with alternately bafflement and contempt.

Item Buy Sell
Fuel square icon Fuel Sovereigns icon 20 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 10 Sovereigns
Petrichor square icon Petrichor Sovereigns icon 60 Sovereigns Sovereigns icon 30 Sovereigns
Undistinguishedsouls square icon Jumble of Undistinguished Souls Sovereigns icon 70 Sovereigns
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