Commiseration: Our most painful failures

What would you say is your most painful failure in recent memory within Fallen London? I think right now, mine has to be the end of Passing Time in Flute Street, with a seventeen in twenty chance of success and using a sudden insight for a second chance, I managed to fail twice in a row. Just ouch.
edited by Finvara on 4/4/2013
edited by babelfishwars on 1/25/2014

[quote=Finvara]What would you say is your most painful failure in recent memory within Fallen London? I think right now, mine has to be the end of Passing Time in Flute Street, with a seventeen in twenty chance of success and using a sudden insight for a second chance, I managed to fail twice in a row. Just ouch.
edited by Finvara on 4/4/2013[/quote]

In the painting in Black and Gold Fate Storylet, well…let’s just say I pushed too far and lost the Acquaintance of the Reluctant Forger. (I also managed to blow any chance of pecuniary reward, but that was a very secondary issue.) I felt bad about it for days, and it took quite a while to re-make his acquaintance and still longer to build up the connection. Even now, it’s not has high as it was.

Probably something in Polythreme. I mean, I didn’t do so well over the Exceptional Rose, but I didn’t expect to either. And recently, I’ve just been grinding items, so there’s not much room for failure there.

I failed a robbery on the Brass Embassy and lost all of my connections to Hell. It was the faction with which I had cultivated the strongest bond. I very nearly stopped playing.

That d***ed mottled man storyline. Came as far as the infernal sommelier, tried to make a deal with the devil with two brilliant souls (after grinding away items for quite some time) and then poof-- nothing. It also was my second time having a go at this storyline. So frustrating!

I have had the odd moment of rash decision-making… letting the Detective be my patron for the Dilmun Club instead of holding out for His Amused Lordship was one such case. I’m sure there have been others…

During Christmas, I foolishly wasted time gathering jewels and honey for Jervaise-Sacks. I knew it might be a scam, but I was in a gambling mood. I’m pretty sure I spent eighty to a hundred echoes, hoping to win his favor, and he just took off, the villain.

I just clicked the wrong thing while not paying attention and lost all my Connected: Criminals.

I just learned that 89% success rate doesn’t prevent failing five out of six tries. Educational.

Edit: What can I say except that failing all of these Watchful challenges is giving me Nightmares. In every sense of the statement.
edited by Finvara on 4/4/2013

That nears a 1/16,000 probability. I don’t know if this makes you feel better or worse.

[quote=Theus]

That nears a 1/16,000 probability. I don’t know if this makes you feel better or worse.[/quote]

Both, actually! How remarkable! At the same time, that does make my failure somewhat more monumental.

My Short Story, on which I had lavished significant attention, failed to reach the heights of literary ambition that I’d hoped. Can someone who’se story made the boards let me know what the rewards was, so that I may know how much to gnash my teeth? I have an Extraordinary Short Story now, but I was very nearly Celebrated…

A celebrated short story is worth 130 echoes

Hmm. I’ll set my teeth to Intermediate Gnashing.

I failed to spend Fate during the lacre clearing and missed out on that nice item not thinking I’d be given something later, which was pretty stupid.
I wasn’t online during the final hours of the Feast, which was stupider.
And I didn’t figure out the Mirrormatchbox thing in time, which was supposedly stupendously simple, so that’s probably the stupidest.

[quote=Nigel Overstreet]I failed to spend Fate during the lacre clearing and missed out on that nice item not thinking I’d be given something later, which was pretty stupid.
I wasn’t online during the final hours of the Feast, which was stupider.
And I didn’t figure out the Mirrormatchbox thing in time, which was supposedly stupendously simple, so that’s probably the stupidest.[/quote]

If this were a drinking game, where I were required to drink when our regrets match up, I’d need to call for a ride home by now…

Did I mention periodically losing acquaintances because my finger slips on the phone? Add that to the list behind not using lacre on one of my pets. Stupid, cheapskate move.

[quote=Nigel Overstreet]I failed to spend Fate during the lacre clearing and missed out on that nice item not thinking I’d be given something later, which was pretty stupid.
I wasn’t online during the final hours of the Feast, which was stupider.
And I didn’t figure out the Mirrormatchbox thing in time, which was supposedly stupendously simple, so that’s probably the stupidest.[/quote]
Completely agree with the third point, especially because I had already used the same trick once and it didn’t occur to me to apply it in this case…

In my attempt to become a professional writer, I made the wise decision to promote my work as greater than it was, hoping the public would regard it as merely “exceptional”, and then I could get a job. Unfortunately though, I failed by succeeding in the potential check, rendering all my work largely moot in terms of getting me a better job, and meaning I’d have to start all over again.

Hardly earth-shattering, but I just feel stupid and frustrated about it. I just wasted 5 actions on the Unfinished Business in Veilgarden storylet “Your crowd of admirers.” I keep forgeting that Straightforward no longer means 100% success, and didn’t check to make sure I was properly equipped. Turns out it was only 97%, which I failed, so instead of having 5 actions worth of wine I gained a point of scandal. All because I forgot to check the chances of success and go tweak my equipped items.