August's Exceptional Story: The Attendants

Fallen London
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Everybody lives, Jolanda! Just this once, everybody lives!

[quote=dov]These are not mutually exclusive.

It’s quite possible to have a story end with &quotall is well&quot and yet feel satisfying.[/quote]
I like to think that, while the ending had some things to be desired in the development of its final choices, the fact that the story ended on a high note with a happy and hopeful ending for everyone involved was a pleasant surprise for the typical tragedy in the game. A nice change of pace, even if it took some weaker in-game decisions to get there.

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I decided to try convincing everyone to return, for one reason specifically: if I was successful, then they never really wanted it in the first place.

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I convinced everyone to leave, that I could, except for the Doting Antiquarian. The palace seemed like a fine enough place, but I don’t think it’s wise for people to abandon their entire lives to go live in dreams. For him, the choice was different. He was old, and the alternative was the tomb colonies. His life in London was over already.

Does anyone have echoes of asking him to leave? And of sabotaging the project?

Also, did anyone get caught playing hide and seek?

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These are not mutually exclusive.

It’s quite possible to have a story end with &quotall is well&quot and yet feel satisfying.

In this case, all that was needed was an option to discuss with each character what they want to do, and only then make the choice whether to convince them to leave it not.[/quote]

Yes, yes, exactly this! I would have loved to talk with them some more about what was going on, what they intended to do here in Parabola, and other such stuff. Give them a farewell and wish them well, close the book on this story. Rather than just shrugging my shoulders and going &quotWelp, that was a thing that happened.&quot

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I really don’t understand the thrust of the narrative at all.

Not the plot - I get that.

What I don’t get is why it was presented as if it was one kind of story (a mystery) and it turned out to be… nothing at all.

The gathering at a party in a house full of artifacts and mirrors that lead to dreamworlds. A missing host. A seemingly sinister Assistant. A seance. A mysterious warning. Violence being done to the guests.

And in the end… it really was just a game of Hide and Seek with, apparently, an over-eager Seeker. It’s like someone thought it would be clever to flip the genre on its head or something.

To top it off, though, the closing narrative keeps presenting choices that seem to encourage the PC to interfere with the project. There’s a certain writing style in Fallen London where you have a “default” choice, and then you have a “be a wild card” choice, where the former is worded “do something” while the latter is worded “do something destructive. Maybe you don’t trust them, or maybe you’re just feeling evil today”.

The choice to sabotage things is written as if it’s the “default” and the choice to let things proceed without interfering is written as if it’s the “Maybe you just feel nice today” choice; as if it’s the alternative that most people would not or should not choose.

Likewise, the opportunities to further sabotage the event by convincing everyone to leave - Even as a newish player with moderate persuasive stats, all of my opportunities were 100% success. There was no question at all whether my choice to sabotage the host’s goals would lead to everyone leaving.

The only question was - why do it? Especially since, despite the Assistant dragging them into the temple bound like prisoners and with a sour look on her face at my having got there before her, it turned out that nothing sinister was actually going on.

I guess, maybe, if I was strong on Connected To The Masters or something, maybe; but otherwise, I can’t see any reason why I’d choose to blow up the whole shebang except for the sheer joy of being chaotic.

In the end, it feels like the writers played a joke on me - “Look, you thought you were getting one kind of story and in the end it’s just a big prank! Surprise!”

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Frankly, I can think of a really good reason to help the Obstinate Adoratrice - She’s building a sanctuary for people that are long gone, but Londoners may very well need such a sanctuary in the not-so-distant future.

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Has anyone given their 3 items to the Merry Gentleman yet? The Season of Ruins storylet only has the &quotWhat’s happening to the guests at the Royal Beth?&quot option available.
Do we need to get the &quotTemperament of the Royal Beth&quot quality to certain number? Or has it just not been made available yet?

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It’s not quite available yet. FBG should let us know when that goes live.

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Questions and overthinking again:

[spoiler]In the temple there are six stools and one throne. The throne and the sixth stool are covered with white linen. If the sixth stool was left for the youngest daughter perished on the Surface, who should sit on the throne? The answer seems to be explictly the King, but the first daughter perished in the House of the Feather and her stool is not covered.
I think that temple might be a scene in memory of the first daughter, reproducing the situation which was just before she came into the dark temple and sacrificed. The sixth daughter probably died earlier. &quotOnly five stools have been sat upon.&quot Could that be a hint where the sixth never came to the Neath?

(I simply can’t reject the temptation to invent such a story: the fourth daughter our Duchess and the youngest daughter Setepenre, they traded their identities and made the youngest’s life or love a mandatory thing in the contact, but the youngest left behind on the surface and perished, then the Masters defaulted in their contact… or made Bazaar defaulted in the &quotlove story&quot between the scribe and the princess, because of mismatched identities…)
[/spoiler]

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[quote=slickriptide]To top it off, though, the closing narrative keeps presenting choices that seem to encourage the PC to interfere with the project. There’s a certain writing style in Fallen London where you have a &quotdefault&quot choice, and then you have a &quotbe a wild card&quot choice, where the former is worded &quotdo something&quot while the latter is worded &quotdo something destructive. Maybe you don’t trust them, or maybe you’re just feeling evil today&quot.

The choice to sabotage things is written as if it’s the &quotdefault&quot and the choice to let things proceed without interfering is written as if it’s the &quotMaybe you just feel nice today&quot choice; as if it’s the alternative that most people would not or should not choose.[/quote]
Thank you for articulating this particular problem so clearly. I completely agree.

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I think at least some of the more confrontational options could be motivated by dislike of the assistant. But outside of using the unpleasant rite that steal’s her voice briefly, there isn’t much reason.

Theoretically I suppose sabotage could be justified, if someone is really really in favor of the masters and the bazaar, mostly as a form of retribution. Considering what the second city did to them.

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And with this I have finally caught up to the current Exceptional Story.

I loved the beginning of this - a mysterious note by an individual whose relationship to me I could define, an almost slasher-horror-ish feeling I had during the hide and seek part in the mansion and then meeting with the Priestess…it was great. Though I was left feeling a bit confused at the end.

I guess the situation was &quotthey’ve decided to stay and you can choose to convince them otherwise or leave them behind&quot. But I never really understood it from the story, nor did I have a chance to find out what all the other guests thought of the Doting Antiquarian’s plan. All I know is they were &quotin awe&quot.

In the end, I chose to leave alone, mostly because I didn’t find a reason to want to ruin the Priestess or the Antiquarian’s work, nor did it seem like a wrong thing to leave all the friends together. If anything, by convincing some to leave with me, I might be depriving them of something amazing.

So while the ending was a bit of a disappointment, I want to highlight the Hide and Seek portion of the story. It was superb. I was legitimately getting goosebumps as the Assistant kept closing in and eventually I got caught and then I did the whole thing all over again just to see if I can get away this time, even though I already had all the six keys. It was simply excellent and I loved it.
edited by Lallinka on 7/30/2017

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[quote=slickriptide]I really don’t understand the thrust of the narrative at all.

Not the plot - I get that.

What I don’t get is why it was presented as if it was one kind of story (a mystery) and it turned out to be… nothing at all.[/quote]

This was a really good post, thank you.

The setup was so good that it’s weird how the tension just completely evaporated in the last act, when it turned out that nothing was actually at stake. No one was going to be hurt or forced to stay, no one was particularly bothered by being taken behind the mirrors to a strange temple, and you could just walk away without doing anything. Which is the choice I wanted to make, but then I wouldn’t get to see the content of talking with the other guests further. Which is…unsatisfying as far as dilemmas go.

Contrast the climax here with &quotThe Final Curtain&quot, where you have to balance the plant’s livelihood against the audience’s. It’s a thrilling choice, and you have four distinct ways to make that decision, each of which gives you a full conclusion (ie, there’s no sense you &quotmissed&quot anything relative to the other choices). One depends on your skill to accomplish, and another means burning them both to death because a cat told you to.

Here, the guests aren’t at stake, but the temple doesn’t really need them either. You can sabotage it, but because it’s not harming anyone there’s no particular weight to that decision either. Even the option marked &quotthis is not a nice thing to do&quot is temporary and more slightly unpleasant than anything.

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I was also confused upon reaching the end of this story, for the same reasons. I didn’t understand why I would want to sabotage the whole thing, I didn’t understand why convincing everyone to leave was my only option to interact with them, and I didn’t understand why the assistant’s identity and motives weren’t fleshed out more.

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I spent an inordinate amount of time on both layers of searching the house, both before and after dinner and believe I saw all the various options for the rooms. I didn’t get caught (though clearly all the other guests did!), so missed any content there.
The only aspect that failed to make sense for me was wrecking the temple just for the sake of it. More motivation needed there for that to be a feasible option.
The key sentence in relation to whether or not to persuade people to leave came from the Obstinate Adoratrice, who says “I have seen their dreams”. That convinced me, and I didn’t try to talk anyone out of staying. Having the extra people clearly gives the place a chance of surviving. Actually, I would have liked to stay myself. Though if this was Parabola, there weren’t nearly enough cats.

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My second ES and I really enjoyed it. While searching for the keys I played the Wagner piece that it says you can hear somewhere in the mansion and it really helped create an atmosphere that felt incredibly tense. I could feel my own heart thumping as I hid inside a sarcophagus while the assistant stalked the halls outside.

I was surprised to see the other guests appear at the end, merely bound. I was convinced they were going to be flayed or eaten if they were caught.

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[quote=Harlocke]I convinced everyone to leave, that I could, except for the Doting Antiquarian. The palace seemed like a fine enough place, but I don’t think it’s wise for people to abandon their entire lives to go live in dreams. For him, the choice was different. He was old, and the alternative was the tomb colonies. His life in London was over already.

Does anyone have echoes of asking him to leave? And of sabotaging the project?

Also, did anyone get caught playing hide and seek?[/quote]

Yes, I sabotaged (though by accident–meant to click the other choice). I also asked the Antiquarian to leave. I’ll PM you. Could you PM me with the text for the other choice (leaving the project alone?) Thanks.

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1)How do i hide the spoilers?
2)SPOILER i guess i let everyone in there, how are the consequences?

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[quote=Urthdigger]Like others in this thread, I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the ending. As a glassman and given my destiny (Or, at least, I recall a destiny leading folks into Parabola… doesn’t seem to match the one I actually have. Did I dream that?), letting them remain behind the mirror is VERY much in character for me. They like it there, and get to survive whatever horrors happen in the Neath. And yet because of that, my ending is I just shrug and leave. It feels… anti-climactic.
edited by Urthdigger on 7/29/2017[/quote]
I think it may more be the case that every one of the guests had their reasons for leaving the field of archaeology. And as much nostalgia as they all had for the &quotgood old days&quot a great deal of enthusiasm was couched in their admiration and friendship with the Antiquarian, to the extent of being rather jealous of his attentions.

I’d also note none of them were bound there by your leaving - the Adoratrice isn’t intent on making anyone a prisoner against their will. The Antiquarian just thinks they’re less likely to admit their true feelings to him, and will hang on out of loyalty rather than zeal for the project. Work will continue regardless of the decisions of the partygoers.

I’d also disagree that it was an anti-climactic ending. If anything, it made everyone confront who they really were, look at the past with clear eyes, and accept the choices they’d made. The Antiquarian as well had to accept his own mortality. And in the end that they were all bound together by their ties of friendship moreso than yen for adventure. The drama was just internal and interpersonal rather than external and flashy.

The ending was hardly a do-nothing, anyway. There was a very bittersweet parting of company at what was essentially a wake for an old friend. And I’m not entirely sure if it was a greater kindness than letting them all go chasing after their old long-abandoned dreams, even if they were a folly of youthful romanticism. It can be a hard thing to outlive your dreams, to feel youthful passions wither and fade away, and to let your heart harden to old hopes and yearnings. But sometimes that catharsis is needed to move on and forge a better future. The Temple made a rather acute allegory for living in the past versus living in the present.

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Indeed.

Which is why it’s disappointing that instead of options to &quotFind out what XXX wants to do&quot we only get options to &quotConvince XXX to leave&quot.

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