Barathrum the Old/Conversations
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Spoiler Warning: This article contains information normally only found in the course of advancing the main quest line. |
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This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.209.44. If this is no longer the current patch, you can help by updating it. |
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This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.209.44. |
Contents
- 1 Before Call to Arms
- 2 After Call to Arms
- 3 Pax Klanq, I Presume?
- 4 Tomb of the Eaters
- 5 Post-Tomb
- 5.1 Recame
- 5.2 RecameMe
- 5.3 PreKlanq
- 5.4 PreJunk
- 5.5 Brightsheol1
- 5.6 Brightsheol2
- 5.7 TombReward
- 5.8 GolemPreface
- 5.9 Golem
- 5.10 Golem2
- 5.11 Golem3
- 5.12 Golem4
- 5.13 Entrails
- 5.14 EntrailsAlternate
- 5.15 Pilot
- 5.16 Fluid
- 5.17 Power
- 5.18 AcceptGolem
- 5.19 GolemQuestDone
- 5.20 GolemAcquaint
- 5.21 Ascend
- 5.22 AscendConfirm
- 5.23 AscendConfirm2
- 5.24 AscendConfirm3
- 5.25 GolemInfo
- 6 During Ascension
- 6.1 Z-Ascending
- 6.2 Dawnstirs
- 6.3 SortFaculties
- 6.4 TemplarDefeated
- 6.5 Well
- 6.6 Awaits
- 6.7 Awaits2
- 6.8 Awaits3
- 6.9 NoMask
- 6.10 Graph2
- 6.11 CrimePunishment
- 6.12 MakStatic
- 6.13 GeeubSpeaker
- 6.14 DaughtersTinkers
- 6.15 BarathrumRecovers
- 6.16 BarathrumCusp
- 6.17 Z-SteelOurselves (Only available if BarathrumCusp)
- 6.18 Z-Reveal0
- 6.19 Z-Reveal1
- 6.20 Z-Reveal1a
- 6.21 Z-Reveal2
- 6.22 Z-Reveal3
- 6.23 FolkClock
- 6.24 Z-Reveal4
- 6.25 Z-Reveal5
- 6.26 Z-Reveal6
- 6.27 Z-Reveal7
- 6.28 Z-Reveal8
- 6.29 Z-Purge
- 6.30 Z-Sultan
- 6.31 Z-Healer
- 6.32 Z-Agreement
- 6.33 Z-Rebekah
- 6.34 Z-Rebekah2
- 6.35 Z-Hushed (Start here if player has reached Z-Hushed through asking about Rebekah)
- 6.36 Z-Failed
- 6.37 Z-Name
- 6.38 Z-Failed2
- 6.39 Z-Failed3
- 6.40 Z-Failed4
- 6.41 Z-Failed5
- 6.42 Z-Failed6
- 6.43 Z-Failed7
- 6.44 Z-Failed8
- 6.45 Z-Failed9
- 6.46 Z-DotDotDot
- 6.47 Z-WhyAscend
- 6.48 Z-WhyAscend2
- 6.49 Z-Starshiib1
- 6.50 Z-Starshiib2
- 6.51 AllDone (Only available if BaraAllDone)
- 7 Post-Ascension
Before Call to Arms
Start
Should you be here, (player's offspringterm)?
| [1] My apologies, Barathrum. | [End] |
After Call to Arms
Start
Come closer, nestling. Let me look upon your countenance.
Questions
What can I offer, nestling?
| [1] You are so... old. | |
| [2] Otho said you wished to speak with me. | |
| [3] What's with the houseplant over there? | |
| [4] Please tell me about the signal again. | |
| [5] Could you tell me again about the Tomb of the Eaters? | |
| [6] Live and drink, eldest Barathrum. | [End] |
Old
So I am, nestling. For a millennium now I've watched the river of Time turn the gears of Qud. I even played my part in diverting the river where I could. Oh, but there have been so many players through the years! So many players.
Before
Little do I remember now, for I was but a cub, a nestling, when my kin and I crossed the Homs Delta into Qud. We were urged on by the flooding of a glacial river that flowed through our hearth-cave. The world was just unthawing then, and I recall the roar of the freezing water as it rushed through the grotto, and the frigid spray on my face as I watched in awe.
Euclid
That's my dear friend, Euclid. It's a prattleplant. It stores every phrase it hears in its neuroot network, and it mimics speech by flicking its leaves against one another. What comes out is gibberish as often as not, but even so, it's agreeable company for my nights spent tinkering. It is old, perhaps older than I am, and it hasn't yet run out of things to say.
Pax Klanq, I Presume?
Quest
I do. Your service to the guild has been laudable, disciple. You braved the vaporous depths of Bethesda Susa and decoded the signal, you secured the Spindlegrounds and handled the self-appointed Earl, and perhaps most materially, you defended our enclave from the Putus Templar.
Since you returned from Bethesda, you've no doubt wondered at the signal's contents. Verily, I hid them to shield you from the weight of the truth. Only Otho, Q Girl, and I bear that burden, but circumstances have changed. The river of Time powers the gear train of our schemes and devices, and it rushes forth. From here, I must share the burden. You must know.
Signal
The signal is a beacon of welcoming, and it originates from the top of the Spindle.
Spindle
The beacon confirmed my hypothesis. The Spindle is an elevator, engineered by the Eaters to convey freight to and from the vault of heaven. You see, nestling, in the earliest aurora of our past, the Eaters of Earth were joined by a great coven of beings that spanned the firmament. But the Eaters succumbed to some terrible temptation, and an injunction was placed on our world.
Since then, the stars were silent to us, and our world was left to molder and decay. But something changed. The signal affirms that an entity roosts atop the Spindle, and invites us to join it.
Dare I say, is the injunction at an end? It's too early to tell, but alas, there could be hope for our world.
WhatNow
I intend to ascend the Spindle and answer the call, disciple.
My protege Q Girl has designed a climber for the ascent. We intended to construct it piecewise at the enclave and the site itself, but the engineering feat exceeds even our capacity. With time, I am confident we could accomplish it, but the Putus Templar rob us of our patience. We need to act now, and so as loath as I am to admit it, we need Pax Klanq.
PaxKlanq
Pax Klanq is an eccentric mushroom prodigy. All its faults aside, it's a brilliant scientist and engineer, and I have little doubt that it could build the climber faster than we could. Several years have passed since we were last in contact, but it owes us a debt, and we must now collect.
Unfortunately, no one knows Pax Klanq's whereabouts. Through contacts I made over the years, I inquired as to its location. The most I was able to garner were these enigmatic instructions:
"Seek the heart of the rainbow, eat the god's flesh, and follow the Coral Path."
PaxKlanq2
I must ask you to decipher this enigma, find Pax Klanq, and convince it to construct the climber. Remind Pax of the debt it owes us.
It strikes me as likely for this 'rainbow' to refer to the Rainbow Wood, where Klanq's kin consort, so I suggest you start there.
| [1] I will find Pax Klanq and deliver Q Girl's design. | [Accept Quest:Pax Klanq, I Presume?] |
| [2] I must weigh everything you've told me. | [End] |
Accept
As I had hoped, disciple. First, speak with Q Girl. She'll hand over her design.
I await your return.
| [1] Live and drink, Barathrum. | [End] |
PaxComplete
What welcome news, disciple! Please, take this as a token of my gratitude.
| [1] Thank you. | Barathrum gives the player a  quantum mote. [Complete Quest Step: Return to Grit Gate]
|
Tomb of the Eaters
TombIntro
The flywheel of our scheme is spinning, but we must keep our paws on the treadle. Are you ready to learn what comes next?
| [1] Yes. | |
| [2] I need time on my own first. | [End] |
TombBody1
The climber design relies on the use of electromagnets to interface with the planet's magnetic field and generate torque. Unfortunately, the Spindle generates its own interfering field, perhaps as a mechanism to prevent unwanted ascension.
Our aim is to access the Spindle's control unit and disable the field. How we accomplish this, however, is an enigma. From disparate bits across the archives of the digitum, Ereshkigal has stitched together a cryptic but instructional brocade. She's learned the field can be turned off from a place called Brightsheol, located in the Thin World and accessible only through Resheph's tomb inside the Tomb of the Eaters.
| [1] ... |
TombBody2
Strange, this, and imprecise, but as tinkers we know: a crude blueprint is better than no blueprint. You must return to Omonporch and enter the Tomb of the Eaters. Once inside, trace the errant paths cut into the mausoleum by robbers and vandals, and ascend to Resheph's burial chamber.
As for gaining entrance to the Tomb, Resheph sealed the gates a thousand years ago, but there's a flaw in the seal. The ancient Mark of Death has been lost to time, but if you were to recover it and incise the mark on your body, the Death Gate would open for you, as it did for countless Eater cadavers in the long-blurred past.
Recover the Mark of Death, =name=, enter the Tomb, and cross into Brightsheol. Place your paws once again on the dial and drum.
| [1] I will enter the Tomb of the Eaters as you ask. | |
| [2] You ask so much. I must consider it. | [End] |
TombBody3
As I'd hoped you would, =name=. Take this disk with the signal encoded, just in case. And take this tattoo gun for when you recover the Mark of Death. You'll want to bring a pickaxe, too, or some other instrument for digging through stone. And beware: the Tomb is a vast and ancient space, and sacred to many. I cannot speak to what you will experience there.
| [1] I heed your warning. Farewell, Barathrum. | [Accept Quest:Tomb of the Eaters] [End] |
TombExplain1
The climber design relies on the use of electromagnets to interface with the planet's magnetic field and generate torque. Unfortunately, the Spindle generates its own interfering field, perhaps as a mechanism to prevent unwanted ascension.
Our aim is to access the Spindle's control unit and disable the field. How we accomplish this, however, is an enigma. From disparate bits across the archives of the digitum, Ereshkigal has stitched together a cryptic but instructional brocade. She's learned the field can be turn off from a place called Brightsheol, located in the Thin World and accessible only through Resheph's tomb inside the Tomb of the Eaters.
| [1] ... |
TombExplain2
Strange, this, and imprecise, but as tinkers we know: a crude blueprint is better than no blueprint. You must return to Omonporch and enter the Tomb of the Eaters. Once inside, trace the errant paths cut into the mausoleum by robbers and vandals, and ascend to Resheph's burial chamber.
As for gaining entrance to the Tomb, Resheph sealed the gates a thousand years ago, but there's a flaw in the seal. The ancient Mark of Death has been lost to time, but if you were to recover it and incise the mark on your body, the Death Gate would open for you, as it did for countless Eater cadavers in the long-blurred past.
You're to recover the Mark of Death, =name=, enter the Tomb, and cross into Brightsheol.
| [1] ... |
TombExplain3
Use the tattoo gun I've given you when you recover the Mark of Death. You'll want to bring a pickaxe, too, or some other instrument for digging through stone. And beware: the Tomb is a vast and ancient space, and sacred to many. I cannot speak to what you will experience there.
Post-Tomb
| [1] My apologies, Barathrum. | [End] |
Recame
Is that you, nestling =name=? Are you returned from gate and Tomb? Come closer, I say.
RecameMe
You appear... refreshed. My old eyes spy the swim lines of the waking world and to you they cede precedence. A newness obtains.
PreKlanq
*Barathrum pauses.*
It is. For reasons I will explain shortly, for reasons beyond any of our remits, Klanq has returned to Grit Gate.
PreJunk
*Barathrum pauses.*
Unusual circumstances have put my study in disarray. Lamentable, this is, but necessary.
Brightsheol1
*Barathrum pauses.*
I am confident there is a richness of wisdom in the poetry of that statement. One day, I will be eager to discover it. For now, what of the Spindle?
Brightsheol2
*Barathrum breathes a deep and relieved sigh.*
You are ever a courier of bright tidings, =name=. I am fond of this fact.
Categories and types are decohering in these historic times. Nonetheless, the ritual nourishes us. You are raised to Meyvn, =name=. The one who understands.
TombReward
Take this, too. A chute of morphing gel from my personal collection. You've arrayed yourself in the artifacts of time, and so we have little left to give you. But still, this may be useful.
| [1] *continue listening* | [Receive Quest Rewards: Tomb of the Eaters#Rewards] |
GolemPreface
Now, matters have... evolved... in your absence. Do you choose now to learn more?
| [1] I do. | |
| [2] First, I need rest. | [End] |
Golem
High on the mount above Omonporch, the Putus Templar watch us through their war lenses and prepare an attack. The nephilim, too, stir from their cradles on the Moon Stair and slump with infernal purpose. The short of this is, due to a dearth of prep time and inadequate armament, Pax Klanq no longer believes in the viability of Q Girl's climber design. We must take Klanq at its word, here...
Golem2
This disheartens us, but there is another hope. Klanq has offered up a new design, something unconventional at all angles. And, despite our early misgivings, Q Girl and I now work in assistance to the project...
Golem3
A new creature struggles to be born, =name=, and you will help birth it. Then, it will carry us, you and I, to the top of the Spindle.
| [1] ... |
Golem4
Pax Klanq will mold the creature from raw bioelectrical materials. You must gather these entrails: the body as a model, the catalyst to charge the sanguine fluid, the atzmus as deistic direction, the armament for protection, and the hamsa for personality. You will bond with the creature, too, and act as its pilot. So you must speak an incantation to inscribe the connection.
You'll also need to procure the sanguine fluid itself. And, too, a power source shielded from electromagnetic attacks.
| [1] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [2] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [3] I'm to pilot the creature? And bond with it? | |
| [4] Sanguine fluid? | |
| [5] A power source? | |
| [6] Let us begin, then. | |
| [7] I need time and space from this. | [End] |
| [8] I wish to ask about something else. |
Entrails
They are the components that we will grow, shape, and solder into the ascendant being. We can delve into specifics once you begin, at which point Pax Klanq can also serve as a source of knowledge.
As you acquire components, bring them to the mound of scrap and clay over by Klanq.
| [1] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [2] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [3] I'm to pilot the creature? And bond with it? | |
| [4] Sanguine fluid? | |
| [5] A power source? | |
| [6] Let us begin, then. | |
| [7] I need time and space from this. | [End] |
| [8] I wish to ask about something else. |
EntrailsAlternate
They are the components that we will grow, shape, and solder into the ascendant being. Ask Pax Klanq for details.
As you acquire components, bring them to the mound of scrap and clay over by Klanq.
| [1] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [2] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [3] I'm to pilot the creature? And bond with it? | |
| [4] Sanguine fluid? | |
| [5] A power source? | |
| [6] Let us begin, then. | |
| [7] I need time and space from this. | [End] |
| [8] I wish to ask about something else. |
Pilot
Correct. The creature will be shaped broad enough to contain two, but only you will be bonded to it. Only you will pilot.
Don't fear over an inescapable tether, though. The creature will be mobile unpiloted, if slower to act.
| [1] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [2] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [3] I'm to pilot the creature? And bond with it? | |
| [4] Sanguine fluid? | |
| [5] A power source? | |
| [6] Let us begin, then. | |
| [7] I need time and space from this. | [End] |
| [8] I wish to ask about something else. |
Fluid
Primordial soup, to be catalyzed and ran through its arteries as the animating substance.
| [1] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [2] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [3] I'm to pilot the creature? And bond with it? | |
| [4] Sanguine fluid? | |
| [5] A power source? | |
| [6] Let us begin, then. | |
| [7] I need time and space from this. | [End] |
| [8] I wish to ask about something else. |
Power
Yes, the question of power is a trickier one. Our standard power sources might suffice, but they would be vulnerable to electromagnetic attacks on the ascent, and we believe it within the competency of the Putus Templar to execute such an attack.
This leaves us two options. Klanq and Q Girl have worked out a design for a neutronic battery, free from vulnerabilities on the EM spectrum. But it requires 3 drams of neutron flux. The alternative is remote power, but to carry us across the Spindle's length the source would have to be extraordinary. I would look to Chavvah, the Tree of Life, for a psychic quickening. Reports tell of the resumption of their roaming across the Moon Stair. Seek the trunk at Eyn Roj to begin your investigation, if that's the path you choose.
| [1] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [2] These entrails, what are they? Where do I find them? | |
| [3] I'm to pilot the creature? And bond with it? | |
| [4] Sanguine fluid? | |
| [5] A power source? | |
| [6] Let us begin, then. | |
| [7] I need time and space from this. | [End] |
| [8] I wish to ask about something else. |
AcceptGolem
Yes, =name=! Begin the gathering, and the molding will follow. The materials you choose will influence the being we create, but any such being will be suitable for ascent.
This is our last task before we make our historic climb, =name=. Be safe and well in doing it. If you have more questions, return here. Klanq and I will be available.
| [1] OK. | [Accept Quest:The Golem] [End] |
GolemQuestDone
The creature is born, and you are bonded? What work! You are a sterling shaper of world, =name=, and I've nothing left to give you but my praise.
| [1] ... |
GolemAcquaint
Now, our operators at Omonporch confirm that a clash with the Templar is inevitable.
This is a grim fact, but it does give space for your bond to flower. Go, become familiar with leading and piloting your creature. Return when you are ready, and we will finally go starward.
| [1] I will, Barathrum. Live and drink. | [End] |
Ascend
Are you sure, Meyvn =name=? Our fates are not reversible past the next event horizon.
| [1] Let me consider. |
| [1] We go. |
AscendConfirm
We go. I-
| [1] ... |
AscendConfirm2
O! What is it? I heave... I heave the weight of ass across my crutch, but the bones are pullproof. My bones inosculate to this grotto, or rather- this grotto, this world is what my bones *are*. Can an old bear divest of his spine, leave it to mosses and the sunstrung birds?
| [1] ... |
AscendConfirm3
I...
No matter. The will can break the wheel, too. We go. Pray, the weightloss of the rise might do good for me. Past the shell of the world, I'm to understand one's burdens can no longer pull them down...
| [1] ... | [Accept Quest:We Are Starfreight] [End] |
GolemInfo
Klanq is able to answer your questions. You received an operating manual, too, no? Perhaps you could reference it.
During Ascension
Z-Ascending
We've-
We've done it, =name=. I-
| [1] ... |
Dawnstirs
Only in the Shallows' dawnstirs did I let myself think it possible. And now...
| [1] ... |
SortFaculties
*Barathrum exhales with effort.*
Let us sort our faculties before we reach the rim of our ascent. There is the edge of our journey still to lathe.
| [1] Barathrum, let us again talk about the past. | Only available if BarathrumCusp |
| [2] The Templar are defeated, but will they return in force? | |
| [3] Barathrum, you look pained. Are you well? | |
| [4] By your guess, what awaits us where the Spindle breaks? | Only available if not BarathrumCusp |
| [5] I would like a moment, Barathrum. | [End] |
TemplarDefeated
I cannot say, =name=. But I know it's facile to believe a living heritage can be evanesced in one stroke. We are always downstream of a past violence.
| [1] Barathrum, let us again talk about the past. | Only available if BarathrumCusp |
| [2] Barathrum, you look pained. Are you well? | |
| [3] By your guess, what awaits us where the Spindle breaks? | Only available if not BarathrumCusp |
| [4] I would like a moment, Barathrum. | [End] |
Well
*Barathrum shifts his weight, pauses, and flexes an arthritic paw.*
I am sorry. Tis the acceleration, =name=. I am whirling and empty of breath. Steel yourself, and so shall I.
| [1] Barathrum, let us again talk about the past. | Only available if BarathrumCusp |
| [2] The Templar are defeated, but will they return in force? | |
| [3] By your guess, what awaits us where the Spindle breaks? | Only available if not BarathrumCusp |
| [4] I would like a moment, Barathrum. | [End] |
Awaits
*Barathrum pauses.*
O, =name=, our cursors draw together on Fate's phenomenic slide rule! You burn with speculation, and I- I molder in the coolness of knowing. I enter my dwarf phase.
| [1] ... |
Awaits2
*Barathrum takes in a long breath.*
| [1] ... |
Awaits3
O, deceit! The grueling gate I crossed on every tilt of glittering dusk. I slept in my crimeclothes and wept, did you hear?
Or could you hear only the damnable static, like me, and speak naught to the machine that belches it out. Heal none of the wounds of its grievous heart, or mine own...
O, oh... So much to bear.
NoMask
I-
*Barathrum pauses, and then he laughs.*
Ho, ho! Still! The brow narrows in performance even as the play ends! The mask must peel off... What? No mask??
*Barathrum gravens suddenly.*
I am sorry, =name=. I wish not to unnerve you with uncharacteristic lightness. You nor the rest deserve this.
| [1] ... | If the player confronted Barathrum regarding the  torn sheet of graph paper
|
| [2] ... | If the player confronted Barathrum regarding the book  Crime and Punishment
|
| [3] ... | If the player asked about  Mak's relation to the Signal
|
| [4] ... | If the player asked about whether Barathrum was  Geeub's apprentice
|
| [5] ... | If the player asked about the relationship between the Daughters of Exile and Rebekah |
Graph2
Yes, that paper, twas mine. This racket of a Signal is mine, too, of sorts.
It is my tolling bell.
CrimePunishment
That codex? A comfort, a guidebook, a ledger. My crimes have no signatories, but the heart is its own document.
MakStatic
Svardym Mak's static? Yes, twas the Signal. My signal. My tolling bell.
GeeubSpeaker
Apprentice. So long since I've worn that title, but it feels right still.
Yes, twas me at the machine speaker's side.
DaughtersTinkers
She was a healer, yes. The wire cutter can perform the work of a scalpel; and the soldering iron, a suture.
To take apart a history, and stitch something new...
BarathrumRecovers
*Barathrum pauses.*
Forgive me, =name=. The ascent strains the mind as well as the body. My flight of fancy is done; I am regrounded.
| [1] ... |
BarathrumCusp
*Barathrum pauses and frowns.*
Do you know, =name=, the engine types that ask us to loose every pin and unhinge every cam to know them? Such an engine of culture we are encased in now, and I cannot speak to the workings of one gearset without disassembling them all. I meant not to tease, and soon, I promise, you will spy the next arc of our journey.
| [1] I will wait, Barathrum. | [End] |
| [2] Barathrum, if the past has some relevance to this moment, I would ask you to share what you know. |
Z-SteelOurselves (Only available if BarathrumCusp)
*Barathrum exhales with effort.*
Let us sort our faculties before we reach the rim of our ascent. There is the edge of our journey still to lathe.
| [1] ... | [End] |
| [2] Barathrum, let us again talk about the past. | Only available if BarathrumCusp |
| [3] The Templar are defeated, but will they return in force? | |
| [4] Barathrum, you look pained. Are you well? | |
| [5] By your guess, what awaits us where the Spindle breaks? | Only available if not BarathrumCusp |
| [6] I would like a moment, Barathrum. | [End] |
Z-Reveal0
*Barathrum sighs.*
| [1] ... |
Z-Reveal1
It is done, then. Have the explication you are owed.
| [1] ... |
Z-Reveal1a
You see, =name=, when I, a young bruin, crossed the Homs Delta with my flood-fleeing clan and into the western reach of Qud, the plagues of the Gyre were already ascendant. We took root at our new hearth, in the chrome grottos where we urshiib find natural peace, and by the providence of my elders, I was able to study the tinkering craft.
| [1] ... |
Z-Reveal2
Through my work I caught the attention of a master machinist, unconventional of method, who took me under her wing and, in time, availed me of the orphic truth.
She explained, as I've shared with you and the rest of the acolytes, that the world we know once belonged to a grand Coven of beings who spanned the stars. And that, acting on some inscrutable logic, they disappeared. That an injunction was placed on our world.
This, you know. It is the truth I told, if only half. But Rebekah taught me more.
| [1] ... |
Z-Reveal3
Atop the implausible rise of the Spindle roosted a Seraph, one of the great machinic archons of the Eaters, and this being Rebekah served.
In the short years before I arrived in Qud, the Seraph became convinced that something had changed in the cosmic order. That along the ecliptic of the Folk Clock, some uncounted peg had slid to a priming position, and that the Coven was set to imminently return.
| [1] The Folk Clock? |
FolkClock
The Seraph spoke of a Great Machine that spanned galaxies, the motion of whose sails and gear trains directed the fluidic shifting of stars and cultures. But they spoke little of it, and little I know.
| [1] ... |
Reaching the FolkClock node sets the GreatMachineMentioned state to true.
Z-Reveal4
*Barathrum coughs and swallows.*
To ready our world for the Coven's return, the Seraph, who would be called Resheph, became convinced that all higher life on the planet must... be purged. That it was our life and way of living that moved the Coven to set the injuction. The only way through was for a new life to obtain.
| [1] ... |
Reaching the Z-Reveal4 node sets the ReshephIsSeraph state.
Z-Reveal5
And so, Resheph seeded the plagues and whorled them via waveform to a breathing gyre. Blights engineered to attack life whilst preserving the planet's artifacts of glass and chrome.
Rebekah, dear tutor, betrayed Resheph's confidences and apprised me of the plan, so that I might help her dash it apart and save the peoples of our world.
| [1] ... |
Z-Reveal6
*Barathrum coughs and exhales a pained whistle.*
Together we beseeched Resheph, begged them to reverse the Gyre. I pleaded.. I-
*Barathrum wheezes.*
| [1] ... |
Z-Reveal7
I asked for time. Give me time. To reform Qud, extinguish the hatefulness and needless warmaking, to lift our world across the eschaton and prepare it for the Coven's return...
| [1] ... |
Z-Reveal8
After a storm of shrapnel words, the Seraph acceded to ten centuries.
Ten centuries! An eyeblink on the scales of the Folk Clock but an eternity for us. So I believed.
The rousing Signal would cease, the plagues of the Gyre would be reversed, to the extent they could; for even the potent archon had not full governance over what they had worked into being.
| [1] What would there be for the Coven to return to, if life on our world was purged? | |
| [2] Why had Resheph become sultan? | |
| [3] Resheph is remembered as a healer. | |
| [4] How did the agreement play out? | |
| [5] Then you did not succeed, by Resheph's measure? | Only available if player has reached node Z-Hushed after asking about Rebekah |
Z-Purge
I asked Resheph that very question. But the seraphim transit an ethical manifold much different than our own.
| [1] Why had Resheph become sultan? | |
| [2] Resheph is remembered as a healer. | |
| [3] How did the agreement play out? | |
| [4] Then you did not succeed, by Resheph's measure? | Only available if player has reached node Z-Hushed after asking about Rebekah |
Z-Sultan
Once the Seraph had become convinced of the Coven's return, they reified their authority and assumed a more material role in onworld matters. The decaying sultanate was a convenient tool.
| [1] What would there be for the Coven to return to, if life on our world was purged? | |
| [2] Resheph is remembered as a healer. | |
| [3] How did the agreement play out? | |
| [4] Then you did not succeed, by Resheph's measure? | Only available if player has reached node Z-Hushed after asking about Rebekah |
Z-Healer
And he was, of a sort. The cure for a plague is often too its cause. With one's paws on the dials and drum of power, history is a cloth to be loomspun.
| [1] What would there be for the Coven to return to, if life on our world was purged? | |
| [2] Why had Resheph become sultan? | |
| [3] How did the agreement play out? | |
| [4] Then you did not succeed, by Resheph's measure? | Only available if player has reached node Z-Hushed after asking about Rebekah |
Z-Agreement
We allied on the notion that the sultanate must be abolished for the future to flower. I was to execute the earthly plan, while Resheph continued preparations at the astronomical tier. To achieve a sort of bicameralism of action, Resheph insisted on reformatting their personality as a triumvirate, seeded from thin scans of the original archon, Rebekah, and myself.
The art of mythmaking was employed to enshrine the Resheph persona. Thus- the healer, the Coiled Lamb, and perhaps unexpectedly, the Above.
| [1] What happened to Rebekah? | |
| [2] What would there be for the Coven to return to, if life on our world was purged? | |
| [3] Why had Resheph become sultan? | |
| [4] Resheph is remembered as a healer. | |
| [5] Then you did not succeed, by Resheph's measure? | Only available if player has reached node Z-Hushed after asking about Rebekah |
Reaching the node Z-Agreement sets the GyreTruthKnown state to true.
Z-Rebekah
*Barathrum inhales and stutters.* She-
Resheph would not forgive her trespass. She contracted the rotting tongue while abetting the lepers of =RebekahRegion=. When her time came, she-
| [1] ... |
Z-Rebekah2
Resheph would not let her return home. O..
*Barathrum expels a hushed whimper.*
| [1] ... |
Z-Hushed (Start here if player has reached Z-Hushed through asking about Rebekah)
*Barathrum weeps.*
| [1] ... | [End] |
| [2] What would there be for the Coven to return to, if life on our world was purged? | |
| [3] Why had Resheph become sultan? | |
| [4] Resheph is remembered as a healer. | |
| [5] How did the agreement play out? | |
| [6] Then you did not succeed, by Resheph's measure? | Only available if player has reached node Z-Hushed after asking about Rebekah |
Z-Failed
*Barathrum whimpers.*
-what? Who's there?
| [1] It is me, Barathrum. =name=. | |
| [2] If the signal sounds and the Gyre widens again, then you did not reach whatever watermark Resheph set? |
Z-Name
Oh. Good, =name=, good...
Z-Failed2
No... Qud is fractious, and no lasting peace has obtained. I tried... for decades on decades I tried our paws on the tiller, to shim together what blossomed in the wild...
The restoration of machines, the federation of free sovranties, the nourishing rituals of salt and star, the sacred, the profane...
| [1] ... |
Z-Failed3
In the late years I saw the writing on the wall. I turned us inward, retreated to my candle-dim study to angle at the project alone. A new plan... *eeehw* was-
*Barathrum starts panting.*
| [1] ... |
Z-Failed4
*Barathrum heaves a great sigh upon the moist air of the control pit.*
*Barathrum stumbles to the floor with paws to his face.*
| [1] ... |
Z-Failed5
I failed it! I have failed! A thousand years too short, and- MORE TIME
*Barathrum weeps.*
| [1] ... |
Z-Failed6
I am debased on the plank across the light of God! d- do I have a rightful claim to pity? Blindness! This darkling room abjures the light. Is this the House of Judgement, Hortensa? Or mere penumbra, the child's playcave, and law and language (not yet invented) cast their forcing functions back through time to puppet the unblossomed mind to civilized shape...
| [1] ... |
Z-Failed7
Each of us is a sick animal in a darkling thicket. Each cursed with machinery to compress the clamber of echoes into bees, mothers, mountains, country. How many millions of snowsick years to sew a feeling substance into an agent of the world! A felt and machine animal, and in so doing, to stuff the whole of the world inside the agent (an inarguable document of its falsity), for agency is in its very definition the world in containment acting on itself...
| [1] ... |
Z-Failed8
Then? Perhaps.. Perhaps the greater bodies whose agency I share the smaller cut from might share too the greater portion of my meal in blame.
Winding Svy? Thou art devious in symbol shape like serpent Ba'al!
Hinnom? For blooming alga thou crossed thy perch's back!
Shiftless moon?
Sun! Proud and idle, Sun! Silver father of the protoplanets! Claim mine selfhood and be done with it.
*Barathrum weeps.*
| [1] ... |
Reaching the Z-Failed8 node sets the BarathrumCovenant state to true.
Z-Failed9
*Barathrum weeps.*
| [1] ... |
Z-DotDotDot
*Barathrum weeps.*
| [1] Why ascend the Spindle then? For what purpose? | |
| [2] ... | [End] |
Z-WhyAscend
*Barathrum's countenance suddenly burns bright.*
Did you know, =name=, I harbor a memory older than even the flooding of my hearth cave. A gleaming ancient tale, told by my elders to the nippy cub I once was...
| [1] ... |
Z-WhyAscend2
In the age of the covenate, a coterie of our urshiib ancestors took to the stars to ply their burning cores! Can you envision it??
Ho, ho! I know a secret! Heh, heh! I know... there is a functioning starship atop the Spindle. We can take it, =name=! We launch ourselves into the deepness of the dusted cosmos and find the starshiib! You and I, ho ho!
Starshiib!
Reaching the Z-WhyAscend2 node sets the StarshiibMentioned state to true.
Z-Starshiib1
Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib!
| [1] ... | |
| [2] Barathrum. | |
| [3] Starshiib! |
Z-Starshiib2
Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib! Starshiib!
| [1] ... | [End] |
AllDone (Only available if BaraAllDone)
*Barathrum mumbles inaudibly.*
| [1] ... | [End] |
Post-Ascension
Z-Ascended (Only available if SpindleAscended AND Gyre Truth Known)
*Barathrum's countenance suddenly gravens.*
O.. I know it to be arduous for you, meyvn, to see me like this. The imago unstrung...
| [1] ... |
Z-Ascended-No-Reveal (Only available if SpindleAscended)
*Barathrum's countenance suddenly gravens.*
Child. There is much more I would have liked to share. But... I am a puppet of my shame.
| [1] ... |
Z-Ascended2
I am sorry, =name=. I am so proud of you! I wish... I wish it were I did not peel, like your model.
| [1] ... |
Z-Ascended3
Farewell, now, meyvn. =name=. Live and drink.
| [1] ... | [End] |
Z-Silent
*Barathrum mumbles inaudibly.*
| [1] ... | [End] |