Your opportunity deck is not available here; however when you return to Zee any cards that were in your hand will still be there. The Bazaar is accessible on Bullbone Island. There is no penalty for having Suspicion or Nightmares at or above 8 here.
Orthos is Coming! 0-4
Bullbone Island
Steamers keeping a regular schedule don't stop at Bullbone Island. Barely anyone lives here. Zailors tell of trees that dance, reaching upwards for a moon that never appears.
The bones of Bullbone
Near the shoreline, bones pile up like rookery rubbish. You could have a rummage in the larger heaps.
Watchful challenge, 71% at 142
Cattle on the shore
Fragments of bone mix with the shingle at the shore. Others poke out from tidepools and little caves. Most of the bones are from cattle, you think. Drowned, most likely. Most are from around the Fall, but a few smooth pieces are much older. There are no cattle on the island now.
Watchful increase
You've gained 12 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
Orthos is Coming! has increased (2 change points)
Shattered
A few of these bones are human, and far from ancient. The ones making up this pile were thrown from the grey crags of the cliff-tops above. Some drowned, others smashed into the knife-jagged granite.
Watchful increase
Nightmares is increasing…
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Wild bees
There are a few hives of wild lamplighter bees scattered around Bullbone Island. You could raid them for wax if you're feeling brave.
Watchful challenge, 71% at 142
Bzz?
Slow and careful is the way. These wild bees are more tolerant than their urban brethren, and you soon have a creditable bucket of wax for your troubles.
Watchful increase
You've gained 120 x Lamplighter Beeswax
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Oww!
There's a sharp pain on the back of your hand and soon, a nasty red blister. You remove a stinger like a hook for pike.
Watchful increase
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Wounds increase
Orthos is Coming! 4-5
The Little Cave
You'd have missed the low cave altogether had there not been a jumble of half-carved stone outside it. It looks like the mason never finished the work.
Oho - a little writing
The entrance is just big enough for your shoulders. Your lamp illuminates writing on the wall inside. No choice but to wriggle in on your belly.
Watchful challenge, 69% at 142
Lost in time
Your overcoat is sodden with salty mud, but there's writing here. It's not Correspondent, but you can't have everything. It's scratched into the wall with a sharp stone. The script is primitive and the hand is clumsy. The scribe was better used to a clay tablet and a blunt reed. You've seen the script before, on a coin. You can't make out what it says, but this is definitely First City writing. You copy down what you can.
Watchful increase
You've gained 13 x A Page of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes
Orthos is Coming! has increased (2 change points)
Walking the Falling Cities increase
The perils of caving
Your overcoat is sodden with salty mud, and you're stuck like a swollen cork. The cave walls close in on you as your crew plays sommelier at your ankles.
Watchful increase
Orthos is Coming! has increased (1 change point)
Nightmares is increasing…
Weasels about
Weasels scurry and undulate around the cave. What are they up to?
Watchful challenge, 69% at 142
The mustelid leavings
The weasels have been attracted by a population of skittering beetles. The little darlings have been feasting on bugs for some time - there's a pile of glowing discarded shell fragments for the taking.
Watchful increase
You've gained 12 x Phosphorescent Scarab
Orthos is Coming! has increased
D—n!
Today, the weasels are mainly biting inquisitive scientists.
Watchful increase
Wounds increase
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Orthos is Coming 6: He has Landed!!
Where the Wild Mandrakes Grow
Up at the centre of Bullbone Island grows a circle of bottle-green trees. Only they're not trees. They're mandrakes.
Creaking in the breeze
Up at the centre of Bullbone Island grows a circle of bottle-green trees. Only they're not trees. They're mandrakes.
Watchful challenge, 68% t 142
Mmmmmmmmmm
Leaves susurrate in the weak breeze. You hear no screams and no singing. But there's a humming, of sorts. Something that reminds you of the depths of the earth below your feet. It's enough to make you want to remove your boots, and wiggle your toes deep in the loamy soil.
Watchful increase
You've gained 13 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
Orthos is Coming! has increased (2 change points)
Seeing through the Eyes of Icarus increase (1 change point)
Cover your ears and run
A branch twitches. Leaves rustle. They've heard you. A toothy maw slowly splits a trunk open. Run!
Watchful increase
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Nightmares is increasing…
Someone lives near the mandrake-copse
Someone is nimble and fleet. You spot a top hat moving through the undergrowth. Who's there?
Watchful challenge, 68% at 142
What did he find out?
The fellow is ragged and pungent, but his clothes denote wealth and the mode of but a few seasons ago in London. You get chatting under the viridian canopy. He chose to exile himself when he discovered a secret of the royal family. He keeps quiet on that particular matter, but has a decent stock of gossip still. Even if much of it has gone cold.
Watchful increase
You've gained 124 x Whispered Secret
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Accoutrements for vegetables
Perhaps it was one of the mandrakes. Do mandrakes wear hats? The idea is not a comforting one.
Watchful increase
Nightmares is increasing…
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Orthos is Coming! 7 - He has Landed!!
Sparkling around the Copse
The ground sparkles around the great mandrake trunks. There's glim here. Perhaps the mandrakes' screams rattled it loose.
Acquisition and screaming
There's a small fortune in glim around the lethal trunks. The trick is to notice when they're about to become vocal.
Watchful challenge, 67% at 142
Carefully, now
You pick at the glim-fragments on the uneven ground. It wouldn't do to wake the mandrakes or to cut your hands open. You collect as much as you dare and shove the glistening violaceous shards into your pockets. Dark green-black fronds wave, unconcerned, as you retreat.
Watchful increase
You've gained 126 x Glim
Orthos is Coming! has increased (2 change points)
You never know
You snatch at the sharp glim-fragments on the ground - then curse as they lacerate your hand. You retreat, careful not to let any blood fall on the ground.
Watchful increase
Orthos is Coming! has increased (1 change point)
Wounds increase
Looking up
Glim comes from the cavern roof. Your gaze chances upwards. The pattern of the 'stars' is different to the constellations one sees in London. Perhaps someone would pay for a chart.
Watchful challenge, 67% at 142
Still looking up
To your knowledge, nobody has described the 'stars' in detail from this vantage point. You're not that far from London, yet the roof-scape is unrecognisable. You start assigning names to the formations. The Oyster. The Bandages. The Chattering Matron. Those blind astronomers back in London will pay pearls for your sketches.
Watchful increase
Orthos is Coming! has increased (2 change points)
You've gained 126 x Moon-pearl
Seeing through the Eyes of Icarus increase (1 change point)
A show just for you?
The stars are moving. They're forming a pattern… a symbol… a word… no!
Watchful increase
Orthos is Coming! has increased
Nightmares is increasing…
Orthos is Coming! 8
The Unterzee Waits Silently
A sepulchral calm. The sea is an oily black mirror. You find yourself holding your breath.
Creeping closer
Tonight, the mandrakes will scream. Will you be close enough to hear the tiniest echoes?
Watchful challenge, 67 % 142
What are they doing?
Mandrakes are known to scream. But tonight, from your cleft in the granite, you hear them roar and curse and laugh. A great wind whips up around the island. Tonight, you are far from the civilised safeties and dangers of London. You can only hold on, straining your fingers into the stone, and watch as your crew scurries to secure your steamer.
Watchful increase
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality is now 9
Gain 2 x Aeolian Scream
Not alone
You crouch in the little cave, straining to hear the faint echoes. The only sound is your own heart, and a faint breath from the back of the cave.
Watchful increase
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality is now 9
Nightmares is increasing…
Spiritual happenings
The mandrakes' screeches echo from their copse at night. But are they the only unearthly voices you're hearing? Some sounds seem to come from the other side of the island.
Search the island
Some of the braver crew are willing to hold a vigil with you. What will you find if you cross the island?
Watchful challenge, 67% at 142
Unholy wailings
The Theosophists believe that the spirits of those truly dead, and those stranded on the surface, can communicate with loved ones in the Neath if the circumstances are right. But the physical methods by which they think this happens remain obscure. The zailors' talk of ghosts and ghouls is much less academic, of course - but surely their stories are prime research material. And out here on Bullbone Island, as the night breezes chill your blood, it's easier to see what they base their superstitions on.
Whispering voices rise and swirl around your little group. You can't see anything that could possibly cause the sounds. The water around the island is still, as flat as a mirror. As you look, something stirs beneath the water, but no ripples disturb the surface. You peer closer. It looks like an underwater mandrake grove, leaves moving as if a gentle breeze were blowing. They must be stirring in a current - but how, then, is the surface so still?
Watchful increase
You've gained 40 x A Page of Theosophistical Notes
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality is now 9
You've gained 2 x Memory of Distant Shores
Disappointment
The zailors' tales of ghosts and goblins should provide excellent raw material for research - they are the rough foundations of the Theosophists' fine academic towers. But after you've all traipsed across the island, you realise that there is no sound to be heard tonight. The zailors are depressed after all that trudging. You try to get some campfire storytelling going, but nothing doing.
Watchful increase
Nightmares is increasing…
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality is now 9
Orthos is Coming! 9 - He is Here!!
Gather the Riches of Bullbone Island
Building your academic reputation can wait. Right now, you're more concerned with matters of money.
Making money
You set up your blackboard and easel. You instruct your crew in safe glim-collecting. Let's see if you can bag yourself a mandrake. A baby one.
All gathered in
Your crew return to the ship, laden with as much glim as they dare scoop up. They're an honest lot for zailors, and loyal. But they are still zailors. They'll have pinched most of it, but they still turn a very respectable amount over to you.
Meanwhile, you've been busy with bait and basket. The little mandrake struggles in its sack. It'll be hours getting through that spore-toffee and by then it will be in the tank. It'll be ready for market by the time you're back in London.
Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery increase (capped at 3)
Gain 1 x Deshrieked Mandrake
Gain 860 x Glim
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality is now 10- He is Here!!
Finish your notes on Bullbone Island
You can see the lights of ships out to see. Orthos must be near. You'll have to leave soon.
Write up your notes
The singular biology of Bullbone Island will make a fine subject for your monographs. It's just a matter of writing it all down.
Getting it all down
The rocking of your ship doesn't make writing easier, but it's the safest place. Your notes grow fat and with them your academic future. Shouts from the crew. What's happening?
An occurrence! Your 'Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery' Quality is now 4 - An Established Scholar! (Or: Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery hasn't changed, because it's higher than 3)
You've gained 150 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality is now 10- He is Here!!
Orthos is Coming! 10- He is Here!!
Orthos Has Found You
The Fleet of Truth is hard at your heels. Though he's probably safe back in London, you can feel his breath on your neck.
Time to go
The 'private gentlemen' of Orthos' Fleet of Truth are footpads, recidivists and pirates. And they're here in battalions. Time to go.
A fortunate escape
You sail away, keeping the engines quiet. An hour more and they'd have found you. And you suspect that, far from home, Dr. Orthos is not one to respect the finer points of academic competition.
You've moved to a new area: the Broad Unterzee
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality has gone!
Tarry a little
Surely you have a little more time before the ships come. These zailors are worrywarts. [There is some risk of losing some of your research notes.]
(A matter of luck: pretty good odds.)
I did tell you
You finish a chapter of your work as the smokestacks edge closer. The crew sweats, but from their labours or from fear you cannot say. You set zail with scant minutes to spare.
You were fortunate!
You've moved to a new area: the Broad Unterzee
20 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality has gone!
Too late!
You can hear the engines now. You rush to your ship, scattering notes in your wake.
You were unlucky. Better luck next time…
You've moved to a new area: the Broad Unterzee
You've lost 5 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
You've lost 5 x A Page of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes
You've lost 5 x A Page of Theosophistical Notes
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality has gone!
Cut it fine
Orthos? He's a floppy jellyfish of a creature. He'll not trouble you much. [There is some risk of losing some of your research notes.]
(A matter of luck: the odds are against you here.)
What is the worry?
Your crew wail at you as you load the last sample tray aboard. Smokestacks are getting closer. You can wait no longer.
You were fortunate!
You've moved to a new area: the Broad Unterzee
You've gained 40 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality has gone!
D—n you, Orthos!
The Fleet of Truth surrounds you. You are forced to bargain your way out, surrendering what parts of your work you can't hide.
You were unlucky. Better luck next time…
You've moved to a new area: the Broad Unterzee
You've lost 5 x A Page of Cryptopaleontological Notes
You've lost 5 x A Page of Prelapsarian Archaeological Notes
You've lost 5 x A Page of Theosophistical Notes
Your 'Orthos is Coming!' Quality has gone!
