The Helm

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Encounter Conditions

Once you have defeated the Masked Shaman

Initial Text

Now that the specters seem less interested in bothering you for a moment, you can make your way closer to the helm of the ship. Everything in the mists is eerily quiet, but your path looks clear.

Summary of Choices

1. Head to the helm - Fight The Mask and his handy henchmen. If Mask permanently defeated and ancient sextant not equipped, nothing. If equipped:
   1. 1. Head to treasure - gain sea lord's crown, antique hand mirror or dueling knife and miscellaneous treasure
      2. Head to the reefs - gain Mercy Killer, Dreamslayer or Undead Scourge
      3. Head into open waters - gain Path of Peace, Forked Path or Path of War
      4. Leave the helm - Nothing
2. Leave it be - Nothing

Notes

• Mercy Killer triggers searing coin
• Antique Hand Mirror doesn't trigger any coin effect at all

Choice Text and Results

Head to the helm

If The Mask is undefeated

You head towards the helm, but a wall of mists descends, separating you from your goal. As you move further forward, the helm seems to be gone, along with the stairs you climbed on your way here.

Two massive hands descend out of the mist, one grasping at you while the other stays shrouded back in the mists. As you ready yourself to face this surreal threat, some of the white mists subtly change into the shape of the shaman's bone mask.

A deep, distant voice echoes from behind the mask. "Leave this place. Never return. With five souls, we are immortal. Everlasting. Flee."

A malevolent light flares in the mask's eye sockets.

(Fight Grasping Hand, The Mask, Shrouded Hand)

(If The Mask is defeated, and no ancient sextant equipped)

You grasp the wheel and look down at the map. Unfortunately, the markings at the edge of the map look like stars more than any modern method of navigation. There's not so much as a compass rose.

(Otherwise)

You stand with the ship's wheel in one hand and the navigator's tattered old map in the other. Between the map and the faintly glimmering yellow stars, you should be able to plot a course.

Two symbols stand out on the map: a doodle of a treasure chest and a jagged collection of lines that looks like reefs or a cliff.

Head to treasure (saved all corpses) (Good (4)?)

Grabbing the helm, you set a course for the small area marked with an open chest. You're fairly sure you've got the right place, comparing the paths on your tattered map with measurements on the sextant.

You find your way to a small, muddy island in a turbulent sea. The skeletons of strange creatures litter the beach, but one particular patch of ground seems to have been disturbed. A quick bit of digging later, you find a massive unlocked chest.

It swings open easily to reveal piles of gold and treasures, nestled around a golden crown adorned with blue gems.

When you stand to look back at the ship, you discover you're looking back out over Lake Metroplex from a lonely stretch of toxic beach near the Slags.

You found: sea lord's crown

You found: 10-12 of: Silver Ingots and/or piles of Ancient Gold Coins

You found 2-3 of: sea journal, rum flask, gold framed spectacles, misty gem, rotting journal, inlaid saber, medicine pouch, treasured musket and/or sailor's charm

Head to treasure (saved some corpses)

Grabbing the helm, you set a course for the small area marked with an open chest. You're fairly sure you've got the right place, comparing the paths on your tattered map with measurements on the sextant.

You find your way to a small, muddy island in a turbulent sea. The skeletons of strange creatures litter the beach, but one particular patch of ground seems to have been disturbed. A quick bit of digging later, you find a massive unlocked chest.

It swings open easily to reveal piles of gold and treasures, nestled around a well-preserved silver hand mirror carved with vines and roses.

When you stand to look back at the ship, you discover you're looking back out over Lake Metroplex from a lonely stretch of toxic beach near the Slags.

You found: antique hand mirror

You found: 10-12 of: Silver Ingots and/or piles of Ancient Gold Coins

You found 2-3 of: sea journal, rum flask, gold framed spectacles, misty gem, rotting journal, inlaid saber, medicine pouch, treasured musket and/or sailor's charm

Head to treasure (saved no corpses)

Grabbing the helm, you set a course for the small area marked with an open chest. You're fairly sure you've got the right place, comparing the paths on your tattered map with measurements on the sextant.

You find your way to a small, muddy island in a turbulent sea. The skeletons of strange creatures litter the beach, but one particular patch of ground seems to have been disturbed. A quick bit of digging later, you find a massive unlocked chest.

It swings open easily to reveal piles of gold and treasures, nestled around a well-made knife with a sinew-wrapped handle.

When you stand to look back at the ship, you discover you're looking back out over Lake Metroplex from a lonely stretch of toxic beach near the Slags.

You found: Dueling Knife

You found: 10-12 of: Silver Ingots and/or piles of Ancient Gold Coins

You found 2-3 of: sea journal, rum flask, gold framed spectacles, misty gem, rotting journal, inlaid saber, medicine pouch, treasured musket and/or sailor's charm

Head to the reefs (saved all corpses) (Good (4))

You grab the wheel and steer towards the reef marked on the map. There's no wind, but enough strange stars peek through the mists to chart a course with the sextant.

As you come up on the reefs, you hear a chorus of screams that trails off into silence, then thankful mutterings. The ship, seemingly invulnerable before, shatters against the reefs, plunging you into the icy water.

You wake up chilled to the bone and soaked in saltwater. Your eyes grudgingly open to reveal an oil-stained beach and the blasted shore of Lake Metroplex.

You've learned a new Skill: Mercy Killer

Head to the reefs (saved some corpses)

You grab the wheel and steer towards the reef marked on the map. There's no wind, but enough strange stars peek through the mists to chart a course with the sextant.

As you come up on the reefs, you hear a chorus of screams that fade into the sounds of a young girl shrieking and sobbing. The ship, seemingly invulnerable before, shatters against the reefs, plunging you into the icy water.

You wake up chilled to the bone and soaked in saltwater. Your eyes grudgingly open to reveal an oil-stained beach and the blasted shore of Lake Metroplex.

You've learned a new Skill: Dreamslayer

Head to the reefs (saved no corpses)

You grab the wheel and steer towards the reef marked on the map. There's no wind, but enough strange stars peek through the mists to chart a course with the sextant.

As you come up on the reefs, you hear a few screams that are slowly joined by others until all your senses are consumed by the cacophony. The ship, seemingly invulnerable before, shatters against the reefs, plunging you into the icy water.

You wake up chilled to the bone and soaked in saltwater. Your eyes grudgingly open to reveal an oil-stained beach and the blasted shore of Lake Metroplex.

You've learned a new Skill: Undead Scourge

Head into open waters (saved all corpses) (Good (4)?)

You spin the wheel and head out into the open seas. You're not sure how the ship moves without any wind, but it probably doesn't matter.

You see strange paths twisting in the mists before you. You pass ghostly images of those you've saved and those you've helped, beginning with the five dead sailors then back further and further into your past.

You follow the paths, learning their ways, until you find yourself back on the beach near the Slags.

You've learned a new Skill: Path of Peace

Head into open waters (saved some corpses)

You spin the wheel and head out into the open seas. You're not sure how the ship moves without any wind, but it probably doesn't matter.

You see strange paths twisting in the mists before you. You pass ghostly images, reminders of the choices you've made and… perhaps hints of those yet to come.

You follow the paths, learning their ways, until you find yourself back on the beach near the Slags.

You've learned a new Skill: Forked Path

Head into open waters (saved no corpses)

You spin the wheel and head out into the open seas. You're not sure how the ship moves without any wind, but it probably doesn't matter.

You see strange paths twisting in the mists before you. You pass ghostly images of those you've killed and those you've harmed, beginning with the five dead sailors, then stretching back into your past.

You follow the paths, learning their ways, until you find yourself back on the beach near the Slags.

You've learned a new Skill: Path of War