Something I’ve just noticed about the Noted Orchid Grower - in quick succession, she visited and I got unlucky, she visited and I got lucky. This sequence took me from roughly 7 with 1-2 CPs to roughly 6 with 4-5 CPs.[color=black]
Is she the only non-nightmare storylet with negative expectation? In any case, if she comes a-knocking again, I’ll be inviting her to inspect the flora growing on the sole of my boot…[/color]
Drink from your Aunt is so rarely not painful that I only accept it when I feel unduly successful.
I hate my aunt.
I hate the noted orchid grower. I have had one success v about 10 failures from her. The highest my poor plant has advanced is to level 7.
I am not really growing my plant any more, but I stopped playing the orchid grower cards ages back - you lose more than you gain, it seems like. I suspect she is noted for the ease she kills plants, rather than her expertise!
The first few times that Noted Orchid Grower came by it was made clear to me that no damage would afflict my poor plant as long as it was only level 2. So I let her do whatever it is she does. Then at 3, I figured that I’d see what kind of damage she could do, and she turned my plant to level 2 again, with 0 CPs. So that was a 3-4 CP loss. I let her make up for the damage, but ever since level 3 she hasn’t been allowed anywhere near my plant. In fact, I wish I could hire a Murderer. Yes. We should be able to hire people to take care of certain… annoyances in our lives.
[quote=A B Nile]The highest my poor plant has advanced is to level 7.[/quote]That is the best level. You can show off your plant to friends without risking any damage to it, and if you can guarantee success, you can investigate your plant for rare Phosphorescent Scarabs. Just make sure to never fail, because that will damage your plant. There’s a third card where the best option would be to feed dead rats to the plant, but you might want those for the Labyrinth of Tigers. (Though I have a bandaged friend who takes me there every now and then, which is quite often enough. Another challenge that it is vital to never fail.)
I love my aunt, since she reduces my scandal + makes a nice profit for some wine =)
I work on my plant manly to redeem myself from my utter lack of any plant related abiliies in life, and because my character need a moment of rest from all the revenge related killings.
As per the matter at hand I stopped allowing entrance into my lodgings to this so called expert of matters of flora after the repeated failures.
What you will do is but your choosing.
Frankly, I think a Murderer could take care of that irritating botanist AND do a better job at fostering our plants, to boot.[li]
I treat her like a door to door salesman. Thats probably all she really is anyways.
You know, the way you treat door to door salesmen* when dealing with your plant is rather more efficient. Why can’t we feed the Orchid-Grower to Audrey II? She’d be so much more reliably helpful. Am I evil? Yes, yes I am.
And Vicars. Coalmen*. Pretty much everybody, actually.
**Not the Clay Coalman, though. He just gets annoyed.
That woman knows NOTHING about plants, I swear. I never let her near my precious friend. strokes its luxurious leaves I’ve found that the "feed plant X" options seem at least slightly more likely to succeed. I’ve gone through a terrifying number of weasels recently.
I’m at level 13 now, it has been as high as 14, but then some wine disagreed with it. The wine isn’t really a good bet it seems, I fail more often than I succeed with that.
As far as I’m concerned the Noted Orchid Grower can sit on my doorstep with that dratted Struggling Artist and the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer and play cards for all I care, the lot of them are stalking me.
Don’t even talk to me about my Aunt. I should feed her to the plant.
edited by Inky Petrel on 12/14/2013
It would make a great "breedable beast".
Neathy denizens could plausibly use it in Knife & Candle.
But as Fallen London stands, the mysterious orchid is potbound in its own PvP mini game that none of my acquaintances care about.
I got to level 14 and sold the stupid thing. Cluttered up My Lodgings.
I say! That wench is an impostor beyond a Glimmering of doubt. Acting on good faith, I have allowed her to look at my plant but once, and weeks of painstaking progress was lost. Weeks, I say! To the Colonies, with the Orchid Witherer-ster!
I hate that plant. Eventually got rid of it.
But that doesn’t seem to stop "Where did that thing come from" card showing up just as often. Easily the most frequent junk card.
The evil solution would be to make something useful with the same icon (see dusty bookshop v.s rooms above a bookshop) so I have to check the thing before immediately throwing it away.
The nice solution would be to make the plant an option available from your lodgings once you get it to a certain level, so anyone who wants to do things with it can, and the rest of use aren’t bothered by it!
I’ll gladly donate to the "hire a Murderer" fund if they come equipped with weed-killer…
[color=rgb(194, 194, 194)][quote=]you can investigate your plant for rare Phosphorescent Scarabs[/quote][/color]
If you need scarabs, you can use the Aspiring Zee-Captains card, and sponsor a voyage - you’ll get a ton of scarabs, or a ready-made whirring contraption, and what else would you need them for?
[quote=yetanotherone]If you need scarabs, you can use the Aspiring Zee-Captains card, and sponsor a voyage - you’ll get a ton of scarabs, or a ready-made whirring contraption, and what else would you need them for?[/quote]Yes, now you can. That card wasn’t around back when this thread was started. And I was wrong about the best level for the plant, as the later levels have options that give you stuff when you increase your plant’s level. And the best level of them all is 19, where you cease to get plant cards at all.
Ah. I wonder if anyone had the similar problem of their plant disappearing? I got a plant early on, always feed it when I get the cards, got to about level 12 or 13 in a year and a half, and then it mysteriously disappeared last month. I only noticed because I started getting “Where does that come from” card. So I checked the myself tab for stories and saw that I no longer had any plant. I don’t remember getting rid of my plant at all. Is there any obscure opportunity card that takes away your plant? I never liked it, but it’s annoying to think that this thing I occasionally nurtured is gone and I don’t know why. Eventually I got a new plant. Now I just loath plants even more.
Back on topic. I just shovel the noted orchid grower into the street every time.
[quote=Mirrorhouse]Is there any obscure opportunity card that takes away your plant?[/quote]All (or at least most of) the plant cards has getting rid of the plant as the first option, so a sleepy or otherwise inattentive click can lead to no longer having a plant. Though I’ve only read testimonies from people who immediately realised what hey just did, never anything about someone managing to do it without noticing it.
