| The Secret of the Nocturne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Category | Story Event |
| Type | Story |
| Linked to | The Wreck of the Nocturne |
| Data ID | 169506 |
The Secret of the Nocturne is a Sunless Sea Story Event.
The Secret of the Nocturne is located on The Wreck of the Nocturne and available during the story on Saviour's Rocks.
Trigger conditions[ | ]
The Secret of the Nocturne is available if you have the following:
- 1 x Foxfire Candles
- Caught in the webs of Saviour's Rocks = 41 - 43 (A Scavenger for Spiders)
- The final event in the room sets this value to 44, forcing this storylet to exit.
Story description[ | ]
Overview[ | ]
This is part of a multi-chain story started on 
Saviour's Rocks. At this stage, you've completed 
Preparing for the Festival of Silk, been 
Into The Spider's Web, visited 
The Web of Stone and spoken to A council of sorrow, who have sent you to 
The Wreck of the Nocturne. If you did some spider spying in the Web of Stone, you have some idea why you're here. Otherwise, it's pretty unclear, but you like mysteries, right?
Interactions[ | ]
The Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne status serves as a progress meter of sorts. Its value will determine what options to show you, and it rarely decrements, instead slowly increasing. There are multiple, overlapping choices at every stage, and you can repeat things you've done already. Almost everything that happens has a negative outcome, even when you succeed. At best, for the most part, things simply don't get worse.
| Action | Requirements | Effects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send a pair of scouts in first
It is unlikely that anything is lurking, but... |
Failure | It's not clear to me how this event can "succeed" (the game handles most events as a fail, unless they're against a skill check). It's been reported. I'll update if I hear back. | |
| A long, long wait
A flare goes up from the Nocturne. It's safe. The wait has not however been good for crew morale. | |||
| Rare Failure (10%) | |||
| A missing crewman
A flare goes up from the Nocturne. It's safe. But inside, only one scout remains. The other thought to help herself to a little treasure. Her partner was more Salt-fearing. That at least explains the quiet splash sound a while earlier. A pity, but not one crewman would have advocated anything else. | |||
| Success! | |||
| A long, long wait
A flare goes up from the Nocturne. It's safe. | |||
| Lead the boarding party
Gaining entrance will mean hacking through a forest of old spider-webs. You will show the crew there is nothing to fear. |
Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne ≤ 0
 Iron challenge (84 for 100%)
|
Failed event | |
| A forest of nightmares
The dry webbing winds round your limbs and gets in your mouth as you hack through it. Why do the sorrow-spiders feel so compelled to leave their mark like this? What do they hope to catch out here? | |||
| Successful event | |||
| Cutting through a forest of nightmares
As unpleasant as it is, it's nothing a good axe can't take care of. Why do the sorrow-spiders feel so compelled to leave their mark like this? What do they hope to catch out here? | |||
| Check in with the rest of the crew
They are being quiet. Entirely too quiet. |
Nothing but darkness
Everyone had best hurry. These candles will not last forever. Nor will the solitude. |
||
| Rare event (40%) | |||
| Their eyes stare into the shadows
Find anything? No, nothing. There is nothing here. We should leave. We are not welcome here... | |||
| Explore the lower levels
You are alone here... right? |
Empty corridors, untouched rooms
The sorrow-spiders took little from the Nocturne save its crew. Their attack froze it in time, from the broken glass of a long-dried out brandy decanter to the still damp charcoal in the extinguished engines. |
||
| Rare event (5%) | |||
| A movement in the dark!
What was that? A ghost? No. Just the flickering of a candle. At least the crew did not see it. simply being here has them superstitious enough. | |||
| Search the cargo hold
You don't know what you're looking for, you don't know if you'll know it when you see it, you don't know why it's important... but at least you know it's here. Isn't it? |
Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne = 1 - 2
 Veils challenge (50 for 100%)
|
Failed event | |
| The Nocturne had many passengers...
A true zailor takes on as few passengers as possible, unless they're nailed up in the hold like the better-behaved tomb-colonists. The Nocturne had musicians and poets and scholars on board when it met its fate. Their baggage contains little of interest though; or at least, nothing particularly relevant. | |||
| Rare failed event (9%) | |||
| A sudden sharp shower
You can only be glad no one is here to see it as a crate of seven year old zeewater bursts open at your touch, soaking you to the skin. | |||
| Successful event | |||
| The Nocturne had many passengers
Their belongings tell many stories. None of them however seem to be one the sorrow-spiders would take a direct interest in. | |||
| Rare successful event (15%) | |||
| A secret, to be sure
One that speaks of at least one unfortunate encounter in the Nocturne's history. Not, however, one a sorrow-spider would likely find notable. | |||
| A moment's fear
A sliver of ice down the spine. A hot sweat. The sense of something watching, from within or without. |
Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne = 3
 Hearts challenge (251 for 100%)
|
Failed event | Note the question mark. If you pass, it's possible there were there ghosts? If you fail, there were definitely ghosts. |
| Ghosts of the Nocturne
It is said that the Nocturne was sunk by the Tree of Ages, the fist of the sorrow-spiders. If any ship was going to have ghosts, it would be this one. What else could it be? | |||
| Successful event | |||
| Ghosts of the Nocturne?
It is said that the Nocturne was sunk by the Tree of Ages, the fist of the sorrow-spiders. If any ship was going to have ghosts, it would be this one. But no. This feels older than mere death, and somehow... further away. At least, further away for now. | |||
| Search the regular cabins
Perhaps it was not the Nocturne itself, but a passenger that drew the sorrow-spiders' interest? |
If so, it is not clear why
Unless they long for musical instruments, half-finished poetry, or a clock that is not even right once a day, there is little here they might want. |
Only the description varies | |
| Rare event (5%) | |||
| If so, it is not clear why
Unless they long for a collection of most pornographic wood-carvings, a forbidden novel of love in the Second City, or the pickled body of a zee-bat, there is little here that they might want. | |||
| Search the stateroom
As close to luxury as one can expect on the zee. Whoever stayed here was blessed indeed. |
Soft pillows. Warm sheets.
An acquired taste for those who value comfort. No secrets however, at least none on open display. |
||
| Rare event (9%) | |||
| The Diary of a Perfidious Composer
A scandalous document to be sure! It does not however contain anything the sorrow-spiders are likely to consider relevant to their interests. | |||
| Take nothing. Touch nothing.
To rob a half-drowned ship of valuables is against the code of the zee... even if nobody is watching. |
There will be reward later
For now, all that matters is the search. |
||
| A little bonus
The Nocturne's passengers left no shortage of delightful artefacts behind when they were taken. The crew would not approve. But the crew is not watching right now. |
 Mirrors challenge (167 for 100%)
Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne = 6
|
Failure | This has a greater chance to get a curse if you pass it! This place is mean. |
| A sudden taste of blood and salt
What was that? It was probably nothing. These extra coins will do far more good in your pocket than at the bottom of the zee.  The Gods of the Zee: Salt's Curse = 1 [Salt's curse lies on you]
 +100 x Echo
+1 x Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne
 +10 x Terror
| |||
| Rare Failure event (50%) | |||
| A few coins nobody will miss or notice
These coins will do far more good in your pocket than at the bottom of the zee. It would be better not to take anything larger though. The crew would be... distracted. +1 x Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne
+50 x Echo
| |||
| Success! | |||
| A few coins nobody will miss or notice
These coins will do far more good in your pocket than at the bottom of the zee. It would be better not to take anything larger though. The crew would be... distracted. +1 x Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne
+75 x Echo
| |||
| Rare Success Event (55%) | |||
| A sudden taste of blood and salt
What was that? It was probably nothing. These coins will do far more good in your pocket than at the bottom of the zee. The Gods of the Zee: Salt's Curse = 1 [Salt's curse lies on you]
+100 x Echo
+1 x Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne
+10 x Terror
| |||
| Into the darkest reaches
Every corner, every inch... the Nocturne's secret will be found. |
Paraphernalia, rot, nothing!
What do those accursed spiders want? Why could they not be more specific? |
||
| Rare event (50%) | |||
| Baggage, dust, nothing!
What do those accursed spiders want? Why could they not be more specific? | |||
| Search the Captain's cabin
Who could better know the ship's secrets? |
Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne = 7 - 9
 Pages challenge (84 for 100%)
|
Failure | |
| A ship of memories, not clues
Along with the scattered bottles of mushroom wine, his logs tell the tale of a ship with an interesting history. There is nothing about anything it may have discovered this far from home however. At least, not in any form a fellow zailor might observe. | |||
| Rare Failure (50%) | |||
| The true story of the Perfidious Composer
Along with the scattered bottles of mushroom wine, his logs tell the tale of a ship with an interesting history. This was a scandal that crossed the zee back to Fallen London, many years ago. There remains enough interest for it to be worth a few Echoes. | |||
| Success! | |||
| An escape from the Surface
Along with the scattered bottles of mushroom wine, his logs tell the tale of a ship with an interesting history. This one speaks of an earlier Captain's bravery, venturing to the Surface to ferry back lost souls who thought the sun still considered them friends. It is a pity that he returned entirely alone. | |||
| A sudden cold shiver
Is there someone behind you? No, further than that. Much further. But getting closer. |
Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne = 9
Hearts challenge (251 for 100%)
|
Failed event | |
| An unseeing eye is watching
There are probably no ghosts on the Nocturne. That does not preclude there being some kind of curse. | |||
| Successful event | |||
| An unseeing eye is watching
Somewhere in the darkness. It seeks your fear. It shall not have it. Not today. Not today... | |||
| A Young Scholar's Notebook
Aha! In theory at least, a most illuminating tome! |
Being a Detailed Study of the Lost Creatures of the Deeper Uncharted Unterzee by K. L. Stalveis
It is an unfinished treatise, the few completed sections a masterwork in turning forbidden knowledge into tiresome ephemera. The pictures however show great underwater beasts unlike any you have ever before heard witnessed. A theme of tentacles and madness persists throughout, until in the end even the once-copperplate handwriting is simply a scrawl. Surely, this must be it. If not, whatever the sorrow-spiders seek is too well hidden or has long since been taken by one unfearing of Salt's wrath.  Saviour's Rocks: Caught in the webs of Saviour's Rocks = 44 [A Scavenger for Spiders]
Saviour's Rocks: The Fate of the Nocturne = 10
|
If it's more than 10, set it to 10. And why not? Setting the status to 44 is a break condition for this storylet's requirements and returns the player to The Wreck of the Nocturne. |
| The Wreck of the Nocturne story events | |
|---|---|
| The Secret of the Nocturne • The Final Voyage of the Nocturne | |
| Saviour's Rocks story events | |
|---|---|
| Into the Spider's Web • Burn the Tree of Seasons • A council of sorrow • The Secret of the Nocturne • A council of joy • The Final Voyage of the Nocturne | |