Provenance an artefact

ID: 256215

Spoiler warning! This page contains details about Fallen London Actions.

From: The Archaeology Wing

Comparing it to the museum's collection should help you date and catalogue... whatever this is.

Game Instructions: This will turn your artefacts into an item of higher value, but the result is highly variable.

Unlocked with 1 x Unprovenanced Artefact, 375 x Cryptic Clue

Challenge information

Broad, Watchful 90

• 62 - very chancy (41%)
• 77 - chancy (51%)
• 92 - modest (61%)
• 107 - very modest (71%)
• 122 - low-risk (81%)
• 137 - straightforward (91%)
• 150 - straightforward (100%)
  

Success

Curious

Description summary:
The description varies based on your Crate Contents.

Crate Contents	Description
1	The inside of such Third City idols is coated in silver – a mirror, left in complete darkness, for some unknown purpose.
2	There's a secret latch on the underside, which opens as long as you rotate the statue's arm to the right orientation. Whatever was in the secret compartment originally, it is long gone, but for the smell of profound rot.
3	These come from the Elder Continent – the glassy obsidian is an imitation of sacred objects hewn from the Mountain of Light itself.
4	Such bronze vessels date to the Fourth City, where they were used to contain souls for transport to Hell.
5	This tablet is one of a series. There are no record of their origin, but their writing has been adopted by the Church in the Wild, who maintains they were written by St Eligius...
6	The copper disc looks like a decorative plate – but to the initiated, the dimples hammered into it form a detailed, if outdated, map of the Unterzee.
7	This length of rope has knots and beads tied into it to act as a mnemonic device – specifically, a record of a lucid dream.
8	This thin strip of silver, coiled in on itself, is engraved with a story about the Elder Continent city of Varchas. It is unclear whether the events it describes are a chronicle of the past, or a prophecy of a potential future.
9	It has a square shape – as long as it's being watched. When unattended, it tends to roll off flat surfaces, or seep into cracks.
10	The idol is a crude fake, a clay statuette sold to gullible zailors. But something is concealed inside...

[Find the rest of the story at https://www.fallenlondon.com]

• Watchful is increasing…
•  You've lost 1 x Unprovenanced Artefact
•  You've lost 375 x Cryptic Clue
•  An occurrence! Your 'Crate Contents' Quality is now 1-10! (hidden)

With Crate Contents exactly 1:

•  You've gained 1 x Direful Reflection

With Crate Contents exactly 2:

•  You've gained 1 x Emetic Revelation

With Crate Contents exactly 3:

•  You've gained 1 x Antique Mystery

With Crate Contents exactly 4:

•  You've gained 1 x Silent Soul

With Crate Contents exactly 5:

•  You've gained 1 x Verse of Counter-Creed

With Crate Contents exactly 6:

•  You've gained 1 x Puzzling Map

With Crate Contents exactly 7:

•  You've gained 1 x Vitreous Almanac

With Crate Contents exactly 8:

•  You've gained 1 x Memory of a Shadow in Varchas

With Crate Contents exactly 9:

•  You've gained 1 x Unlawful Device

With Crate Contents exactly 10:

•  You've gained 1 x Fourth-City Echo

Rare Success

Highly Curious

Description summary:
The description varies based on your Crate Contents.

Crate Contents	Description
1	The stone tablet is engraved in several of the languages of the Presbyterate – with translations of the same text.
2	This 'stone idol' is really a missive meant to the Presbyter, written in a cryptic language encoded in the gestures, position, and appearance of the fictional deity it depicts
3	The steel lockbox is of Presbyterate make. The contents, if the label is to be believed, are unspeakably precious.
4	On its backside, this polished bronze mirror has been engraved and inlaid with gems; their locations correspond to a path to be taken in Parabola.
5	It's been painted a dull grey to disguise its true nature. But as soon as you scratch the surface with a penknife, it becomes clear that this "sculpture" was hewn from the Mountain of Light.

[Find the rest of the story at https://www.fallenlondon.com]

Wiki note: Chance of Rare Success most likely between 5 and 10% - a sample size of 277 (from comments below) has 7%.

• Watchful is increasing…
•  You've lost 1 x Unprovenanced Artefact
•  You've lost 375 x Cryptic Clue
•  An occurrence! Your 'Crate Contents' Quality is now 1-5?! (hidden)

With Crate Contents exactly 1:

•  You've gained 1 x Primaeval Hint

With Crate Contents exactly 2:

•  You've gained 1 x Mortification of a Great Power

With Crate Contents exactly 3:

•  You've gained 1 x Judgements' Egg

With Crate Contents exactly 4:

•  You've gained 1 x False Hagiotoponym

With Crate Contents exactly 5:

•  You've gained 1 x Mountain-sherd

Failure

Uncertain

Under a magnifying lens, those scratches on the inner surface look almost organic – like minute worms carved them out, leaving swirling tracks in the stone. Upon closer inspection, don't the whorls on your fingertips look just like that, too?

• Watchful is increasing…
•  Nightmares is increasing… (+2 CP)