April Exceptional Story: Tauroktonos

Fallen London
41

I love finding out more and more about The Devils and Hell they are consistently my favorite stories.

I also liked that I got Renown: Hell for siding with Hell. Considering my current Renown is over 48, and about half-way to 49, it seemed the right thing for my character. I also live in a very nice sanctum, so it would be awkward at tea time if I hadn’t.

Probably my favorite Devil based story since 12:15 to Moloch Street.

42

Tick, tock, tick, tock don’t forget to unlock!

43

Ooops, new story tomorrow? I should remember to save actions!

44

This story had a lot of good things going for it, but finding out that the merciful option with the beast early on was the strictly worse option than either of the two, I feel like I’ve been cornered a bit by my own RP tendencies if not the game itself.

Thoroughly agree that the Hope & Vigour counter was a great mechanic.

I sided with the church in the story (honestly, after reading the Beatific Stone text, it’s hard not to) and it felt like a decent choice.

The story didn’t have the “wow” factor of Cricket or Bonfire, but it was decent.

45

This is a decent story. It has an interesting premise and some interesting characters and settings. However, the pacing is uneven and the mechanics are not ideal.

On the one hand, it’s nice to get some Renown boosts, and not even at the very final choice, but in several places. This makes much sense and is inline with how Renown is supposed to work (and it’s a shame more Exceptional Stories don’t do this). On the other hand, losing Renown at the end is much more problematic. Not only is this unannounced (and can be extremely painful/impossible to regain), but it goes against what Renown is (or is supposed to be). With the old Connected quality it made a lot of sense for some choices to drop the quality. With Renown, even your worst behaviour towards a faction should only increase Renown with them even further!

It’s also a shame that this story didn’t try to tie in with the player character’s choices in &quotBound in Diocesan Intrigue&quot. I kept expecting some callback to that dangling storyline…

All in all, interesting and entertaining, but uneven.

Personal ranked list of all Exceptional Stories:

Masterpiece:

  • Cricket, Anyone?

Excellent:

  • Lost in Reflections[/li][li]Cut with Moonlight[/li][li]Hojotoho![/li][li]For All The Saints[/li][li]The Frequently Deceased[/li][li]The Waltz that Moved the World[/li][li]Steeped in Honey[/li][li]Flint[/li][li]All Things Must End[/li][li]Written In The Glim[/li][li]The Century Exhibition[/li][li]The Twelve-Fifteen From Moloch Street[/li][li]The Persona Engine[/li][li]Where You and I Must Go[/li][li]The Sinking Synod[/li][li]A Little Pandemonium[/li][li]The Attendants

Good:

  • Noises From Upstairs[/li][li]The Murgatroyd Formula[/li][li]Lamentation Lock[/li][li]The Web of the Motherlings[/li][li]The Pentecost Predicament[/li][li]The Calendar Code[/li][li]Daylight[/li][li]The Rat-Catcher[/li][li]The Art of Murder[/li][li]The Chimney Pot Wars[/li][li]The Final Curtain[/li][li]Tauroktonos[/li][li]The Magician’s Dream[/li][li]The Bones of London[/li][li]The Heart, the Devil and the Zee[/li][li]The Price of Loss

OK:

  • Our Lady of Pyres[/li][li]Required Repairs[/li][li]The Clay Man’s Arm[/li][li]Five Minutes to Midday[/li][li]Discernment[/li][li]The Haunting at the Marsh House[/li][li]The Pursuit of Moths[/li][li]Factory of Favours

Meh:

  • Trial and Error[/li][li]The Last Dog Society[/li][li]The Seven-Day Reign[/li][li]The Court of Cats

Terrible:

  • The Stone Guest

edited by dov on 5/26/2019

46

This was an enjoyable story to play.
I would have liked if there was more of a connection between Hell and Mithras, but considering what you find out in the end I guess that was not the point.
I actually had the Classist as a lab assistant for a long time where she is an absolute darling, so I was determined to help her as much as possible. I wish there was a way to cure her as well.
I also wish I could adopt the cute puppy (ok, abominable hellbeast). It was so cute and ferocious!

47

Just got around to this story and gotta say I really liked this one. Good lore with explanations, not overly complicated and not too long. Nice to get some renown as well.