Persuade the Drummer/Tables

Success Text

Question before the Board	Success Description
10 - 14, 16 - 17, 20 - 24, 26 - 27, 29 - 31, 35, 37	A low rumble like thunder over a plain. It appears the Drummer is indifferent to the fates of its fellow boardmembers.
15	A steady drumbeat goes up like a funeral march. Virginia's expression is ashen, as though she recognises the tune.
18 - 19	A steady cascade of a drumbeat rolls on, rising in intensity to a pitch and pace like cannonfire. It seems the Drummer enjoys the humiliation of its colleagues in the cloth.
28	Silence. Nothin– BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG. The table rattles and shakes as violently as if it were on one of your engines. It would appear that the Drummer is very keen to see the back of the Hell-Scarred Gondolier.
32	There is silence for a moment until someone goes to speak, then a long heavy series of beats, like a funeral march. This continues for a full hour. It would seem the Drummer wishes the Reverend's departure to be carried out with appropriate ceremony.
182, 230, 320, 932	The only answer is a single, low penetrating vibration that makes the teeth rattle in the skull. This is 'yes', or the only approximation you're going to receive.
400	The drum-beat this time sounds suspiciously like the jangling of a cash-box.
520	Is it possible for a drum-beat to sound like laughter? For the rat-tat to resemble a mocking invitation?
521	A lively percussive rhythm sounds from the Drummer's empty seat. It is the anthem of Arbor, where once Feducci resided. As it ends, Feducci applauds, before lapsing into a contemplative silence.
522	A single heavy thud like the fall of a bomb, unexploded. The Drummer does not object.
523	A drumbeat sounds like a victory anthem as Virginia raises her glass. Is the Drummer offering her a toast? She frowns, evidently unsettled, hand reaching for her derringer just as the sound stops.
525	A bang like a cannon of roses fired at the heart of London's armies. The Bishop starts, but the Drummer has given its approval.
526	A victory anthem begins: beat by solemn beat. It is an ancient piece, played sometimes in the Brass Embassy when brandy has been flowing and days best forgotten are remembered. It was once the traditional music for the entrance of princes into Hell.
528	A silence from the Drummer. It seems the matter of Cornelius' ancient animals concerns the Drummer not a whit. Cornelius lets out a long breath of relief.
529	A hollow beat begins like the dream of a heart. The Viscountess sways in time with the atonal rhythm: a remembrance of a place in Parabola where once she walked.
700	A harsh staccato beat sounds like a gunshot. Is it a yes? Half of your board clutch their chests in shock.
710	A bang sounds like a grenade going off. It would seem that the Drummer is very happy to leave Balmoral in September's hands.
720, 905	Silence. It is not assent, but nor is it dissent. It seems on this the Drummer cannot or does not care to have an opinion.
940 - 941, 1000, 1020 - 1030	A light tap sounds, like might be made from bone hitting bone. The Drummer relents. This time.
1100 - 1110	A long roll of the drums like thunder. The Drummer has unfinished business with the kingdom behind the glass.
1200	A light tap sounds but swift and skittering. The Drummer finds this prospect exciting.

Failure Text

Question before the Board	Failure Description
10 - 14, 16 - 18, 20 - 22, 24, 29 - 31	A deathly silence from the Drummer. It would appear the standing of its colleagues means little to a Prince of Hell entombed in Parabolan glass.
15	A silence. Has the Drummer nothing to say on the matter of its infernal colleague? Then a long drumroll begins like thunder. Is the Drummer committing to a view? Or is it relishing the humiliation of a hero of the Season of revolutions?
19	The sound of cannon. The scream of horses. The smell of roses that drifts along the table like perfume. Is the Drummer defending the Bishop of Southwark?
23, 28	The smell of burning roses pervades the boardroom, accompanied by the sound of a single drumbeat, heavy as the adumbration of a heart. The Drummer, it seems, has strong feelings on the matter of the Gondolier.
32	A great bang goes off like a firework or a military cannon. The sound shakes the table and breaks several glasses sat before the Board. It would appear the Drummer does not care for the removal of the Delightful Reverend.
230, 320	The reply comes as a rat-a-tat like an infantry's marching band, a furious refusal packaged in a threat.
400	Deep, discouraging thuds. It is unclear whether the Drummer objects to this particular dividend, or to the concept of human profit entirely. But it is not on your side.
521	A strange and sinuous series of rolling drumbeats sounds from the Drummer's empty seat. Feducci sits bolt upright, as though he recognises the tune. His feet beat of their own accord, twitching […] After a while, the Drummer ceases to play.
522	A lengthy series of bangs and booms goes up, […] timed to mimic the effect of an incautious personage blundering across the munition-littered battlefields of Hell. April […] scrawls a new design for a bomb, to be concealed within the skin of a drum.
523	A sound that sounds like the tearing of silks, the breaking of wines and the dancing of many massive legs on many tiny bottles of perfume. Virginia clenches her jaw.
525	A sound that sounds distinctively like a church bell falling from a high place and shattering into a thousand tiny pieces, before something large and eight-legged dances upon the shards. The Bishop of Southwark pales.
526	A great drum beat echoes around the room, drowning out His Amused Lordship's words. His Amused Lordship makes a face, displeased to have encountered something louder than he.
527	A great rolling boom such as might be made by a small boat being splintered into a dozen pieces. The Wandering Gondolier gulps.
529	The mocking hiss and rattle of maracas, pitched to sound almost like the triumph of snakes. The Viscountess bares her claws.
700 - 720	A long series of drumbeats goes out that rattle your teeth […] As violent flashes roll through your head like lightning, your bleeding ears wonder if the Drummer is performing some malevolent parody of God Save the Queen. That can't be right? Can it?
905	A long series of drumbeats goes out that rattle your teeth […] As violent flashes roll through your head like lightning, your bleeding ears wonder if the Drummer is performing some malevolent parody of a wedding march. That can't be right? Can it?
940 - 941	A single bell sounds from somewhere that feels like the base of your spine, sounding through your bones and rattling your teeth like coins in a jar. It would seem that the Drummer does not care for charity.
1100 - 1110	A single bell tolls, funeral and distant. The Drummer has no wish to engage with Parabola if it can avoid it. It is not, of course, afraid. Merely prudent.
1200	The Drummer replies with a single boom. Revolution only made things worse in Hell; perhaps it does not care to foster more Revolutionaries.