Christmas in Fallen London

[quote=elderfleur][quote=theonie]Quick question, the &quotStick with what you know&quot option on Day 4 of Mr Sacks is available to me but I’m pretty sure I’d completed the investigation last year and got the item at the end, so shouldn’t it be locked? Or is it just open for everyone regardless?[/quote] If you picked Devils last year, they never reset the &quotInvestigating with&quot quality for some reason, whether one claimed the final payout or not. But then again, their options on day 6 and 10 aren’t mechanically exciting and getting a duplicate unsaleable Affiliation won’t help in any way, so there isn’t much reason it needs to reset, I suppose.[/quote] Ohh! Yes, I did pick the Devils last year, so that’s what happened. I hadn’t noticed the Investigating quality hadn’t been reset…all is explained, thank you!

Same happened here. If you mouse over it, it tells you which investigation you failed to complete. It confirmed the devils one for me, though like you, I thought I’d finished it.

Day 5’s choice:

https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Mr_Sacks!_Take_this_dream_of_mirrors!

By the way, the ‘A Pronouncement from the Empress’ thing appeared. Probably for New Year’s Eve?

Is there any speculation what this business with the Empress might be about?

I’m sure there’s plenty of speculation, but nothing known at this point. Some of the more baseless speculation is that the Empress will announce our upcoming migration to the stars, putting in motion the events of Sunless Skies. But who knows?

Ooh, that is an excellent idea. Some sunless skies tie-ins. We did, after all, build a railroad, so we’re starting to get trains!

Another idea could be some sort of Mask of the Rose tie-in. Not sure what the Empress would do for that, but who knows!

I see.

My own imagination combined the following facts:

  1. Zeefarer as far as I know has only opened up two stories , the Khanate and the matter with the Blind Pianist and the Sallow Spirifer.

  2. The intro text to the announcement emphasises the words written in capital letters : &quotIf you can stomach so many capital letters&quot

  3. The words written in capital letters in the announcement are : &quotLOYAL&quot , &quotSEDITIOUS&quot , &quotDISTANT LANDS&quot .

  4. Although with all the new content over the past two years demand has faded, when Port Carnelian was first launched there were some who asked for more content related to the location.

  5. What I remember of the current content in Port Carnelian is that it is a place where loyalties , and ,implicitly, seditious intentions, clash and where one can expect at any time to have to choose one side over another between London’s colonial ambitions, the Khanate’s interests and the continent’s inhabitants.

  6. I believe it was quite recently that they modified the maximum tribute one can accumulate for the court of the Wakeful Eye. I do also note that that is a grind that has not been competitive for quite a while, except perhaps for gaining certain tier 6 items.

Taking all this into account , my guess it that it has something to do with Port Carnelian.
edited by Anthony on 12/30/2021
edited by Anthony on 12/30/2021
edited by Anthony on 12/30/2021

The Perennial Scholar just called Fires!Sacks “cromulent”. I have mixed feelings about this outcome.

Well, the announcement was a bit meh, to be honest, and the new item is not really useful. Let’s see what the new Opportunity Card will be about.

So which is it for the Empress announcement?

Try to solemnly pay attention to the Empress, or

Purchase a bag of Rubbery Lumps

Edit: either option is the same, Rubbery Lumps reduce one point of Wounds.
edited by fishandchips on 12/31/2021

Not too bad, it is my first Home Comfort which raises Persuasive.

It feels like a rip-off though, considering how many cellars of wine we had used during this event.

Now I have more Favours in High Places than I know what to do with them.

So the party’s cancelled? That obscure preparation quality we collectively pumped up to faintly ridiculous proportions had no actual use, it’s all gone down His Unamused Lordship’s gullet? The only real point of the card was the card itself?

Hard to believe… perhaps there’s still another surprise in store. If not, then while certainly a successful subversion of our expectations, this is a rather underwhelming payoff.

I’m assuming for now that there will be some further outcome from the party preparations, possibly in the form of the new card. I’m sure his Amusedship can find something else to celebrate if he wants to.

Also, my congratulations to whoever at Failbetter came up with “A strategically-placed orchestra […] playing Elgar to disperse the crowd”, which is a marvellous turn of phrase.

When does the pails of snow melt? I am very close to affording a Semiotic Monocle.

I am in two minds whether to buy it and raise my Scholar of the Correspondence, or just try my luck with a monkey.

Let those sweet words embiggen your hearts!

Anyhow, it’s clear that the scholar’s travels took him across the globe, where he could have met Jebediah Springfield, or perhaps even the notorious pirate Hans Sprungfeld. At the very least, he must have traveled through Springfield. Maybe his visit to the neath is a continuation of his studies into geographic anomalies, which by any sane process would include a border shared by the States of Ohio, Nevada, Maine, Kentucky, and the one in which the city of Springfield, a desert three times the size of Texas, a river, an ocean, badlands, one of the world’s tallest mountains, an active volcano, a gorge, a glacier, a mesa, and multiple forests are all found.

[quote=fishandchips]When does the pails of snow melt? I am very close to affording a Semiotic Monocle.

I am in two minds whether to buy it and raise my Scholar of the Correspondence, or just try my luck with a monkey.[/quote]
Pails will begin melting around the time that Penstock’s Wicket closes, which will be January 29. So you have around four weeks.

More specifically: After a certain point, they will melt with Time, the Healer. The TtH before melting will include an explicit warning that your pails have a week left to live.

What a lovely and oddly-right announcement!

To those complaining about the profitability, I found the card itself quite profitable. As long as you only took the “gain Bohemian Favors” option.

[quote=Tsar Koschei]So the party’s cancelled? That obscure preparation quality we collectively pumped up to faintly ridiculous proportions had no actual use, it’s all gone down His Unamused Lordship’s gullet? The only real point of the card was the card itself?

Hard to believe… perhaps there’s still another surprise in store. If not, then while certainly a successful subversion of our expectations, this is a rather underwhelming payoff.[/quote]

Nah, mechanically speaking, my expectations haven’t changed - I’m expecting there to be some storylet or card which lets us use up the preparations doing something.

I’d previously assumed that narratively, that would be us going to the party, but now I’m not sure what it’ll be. But in terms of mechanics, the announcement that &quotwe’re canceling 1900&quot doesn’t change much, in my opinion.