I chose to give her up to the honey den and upon reading the other endings it actually seems like a more humane then sending her to the surface.
Errr, being tortured until she finally dies but being able to look at shiny things is kinder than being able to see the sun one last time before death? When people die of sunlight, they seem ecstatically happy.
What would happens, by the by, if someone were to use their own red honey?
edited by Amsfield on 12/4/2017
I haven’t quite read up on the previous posts here to avoid spoiling myself, so apologies if I’m repeating what someone else said, but I have one compliment for this ES already:
You can disguise yourself as an Unfortunate, then back out and go about your normal business while still disguised as an unfortunate. This pleases me greatly. I almost wish I could avoid finishing this story so I could live out my days as an invalid. Or maybe I can, if I take a minute to disguise myself before reporting back? Or would the disguise be cleared at some point?
Edit: Alright, I’ve finished the story. I really enjoyed the investigation process, myself. To be certain, is there some way to take the third option about your hypothesis without entering The Chambers? Does vehemently refusing to take the honey grant the evidence perhaps? But would that allow the safe to be opened?
In any case, I have now tasted a certain honey outside of Ambition Nemesis and the Feast of the Rose. I do not expect to do it again. Not even at the Festival.
edited by ReusedNPC on 12/4/2017
I just finished this story and I want to add my own kudos! While I would have enjoyed a little more interaction with the main protagonist at the beginning of the story, I did find myself (and my character) caring about my choices and being careful to try to make the right one. In the end, my Felicity decided on the most compassionate choice in her eyes, and I am content with that.
The way the story progressed was also really good and I liked how it all worked! I did have a thought at the end of it - wouldn’t it be nice to have a storylet at our lodgings where we could check up on those we had encountered before? It could be something really simple that could change whenever desired - no rewards necessary. Something like “Such and such is delighted to see you again and invites you in to tea. She assures you that she is finding ways to cope with her situation now that her life is more settled.” I would definitely click on it from time to time just to get a warm feeling!
It’s always a particularly delicious when an Exceptional Story makes some kind of small but permanent change or addition to the game. Then, whenever you see it, you can be reminded of that story. For example, ‘Cut With Moonlight’ and ‘HOJOTOHO!’ can potentially add storylets to the Society and Urchin faction cards, which always bring a smile to my face when I see them. Or how I can revisit Tanah-Chook and Apis Meet after playing through ‘All Things Must End’ and ‘Flint’.
Of course, if every story added something to the game, it might get a little crowded after a while! But when it does happen, it is IMO one of the best things about being an Exceptional Friend.
I’m going to add my voice in praise of the current ES. Much like "The Heart, the Devil and the Zee" it’s one that does not rely on worldchanging lore (except maybe revealing some specifics about red honey to those yet unfamiliar with it) but its strong focus on the central character and excellent writing make it emotionally powerful, even though most people can probably see the resolution coming in advance. Where the story really shines for me is the mechanics and the way the writing supports it. Even if the actual options are fairly limited it still felt like I was putting the Vagabond’s story together through some actual snooping (something sorely missing from, say "The Twelve-Fifteen…") and even if it took me a few more actions as I was doublechecking if I got everything I’m here for the stories so I’m perfectly fine trading a bit more time for high quality material.
I think I’ve messed up somehow.
When I wanted to break the red honey I ran out of energy and drank a coffee, but that sent me outside and now I cannot return to the honey den because my only option in there is
"Return to the Withered Vagabond
There is nothing more you can do here."
I investigated the other places, but now there is nothing left to do. My Moment of Lucidity storylet is empty and all 3 places say "There is nothing more you can learn here."
Is this a bug or did I do something wrong/am I not seeing something obvious?
Edit: I see someone had a similar experience, I will send a bug report.
edited by HaganeNoAnna on 12/7/2017
As a very new Exceptional Friend, I’ve now played only this story and the Synod one in November, and Steeped in Honey blows Synod out of the water. I loved the back-and-forth across the various areas of FL, the specific mechanics of the House and the Honey-Den. (I brought the Withered Vagabond back to the House at the end after “accidentally” destroying the red honey linked to her–wasn’t going to torture her with honey and wasn’t going to send her to die on the surface, not when there still might be hope.) I felt far more invested in the Vagabond than I did for anyone in the Synod (though I guess the Synod was a decent one to get my feet wet in. Pun unintended, I assure you.)
This sets a high bar for January!
I too wish to echo the sentiment here that it was upsetting and disappointing that we were not given the option to put this honey den out of business.
[spoiler]While I agree that the player shouldn’t be powerful enough to end the red honey trade, the Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor’s business is one that should be easy to stop: it is built upon the tenuous lie that Mnemosyne’s red honey is better than everyone else’s due to its special creation process (that makes it voluntary, certified humane, organic, gluten free, etc.). But this lie is easy to defeat: the theft of a few select red honey jars from any of Mnemosyne’s victims would contain the memories proving that their honey was procured through coercion or deception rather than consent. Hand those jars to any of their wealthy clientele, or to a rival, and the Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor will flee into exile.
Or, as the Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor admits, it is dangerous to keep red honey bees on-premises. A danger that the player could certainly exploit to make some exclusive Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor honey, and spend a long, long, long time experiencing the Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor’s memories until all of his most embarrassing and exploitable secrets are known…[/spoiler]
I’m not asking for a fairytale ending where the player up-ends the honey trade. But that he is ultimately untouchable, especially when it makes no sense for him to be so, is disappointing both emotionally and narratively.
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edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/20/2017
With all the Christmas content I’ve forgotten to add my 0.02 echoes on this story:
I thought this story was excellent, with the missed opportunity to realize its full potential which could have made it one of the very best.
There was hardly a weak part here - the characters were good, the premise was wonderful, the mechanics were superb.
The only weak part for me was the eventual resolution of the story, which felt way too short. As other have mentioned, a way to deal with the honey den would have been welcome (either to destroy it, expose it, or maybe go into business with it…). The Vagabond’s eventual fate, while up to our decision, felt very abrupt. It deserved a better epilogue.
With a more fleshed out ending I could easily see this as being in my top 3 Exceptional Stories. As it is, I’m placing it "only" as 6th :-)
Excellent:
- Lost in Reflections[/li][li]Cut with Moonlight[/li][li]Hojotoho![/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]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]The Attendants
Good:
- The Web of the Motherlings[/li][li]The Pentecost Predicament[/li][li]The Calendar Code[/li][li]The Art of Murder[/li][li]The Chimney Pot Wars[/li][li]The Final Curtain[/li][li]The Heart, the Devil and the Zee[/li][li]Our Lady of Pyres[/li][li]The Clay Man’s Arm[/li][li]Five Minutes to Midday[/li][li]Discernment[/li][li]The Haunting at the Marsh House
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
Maybe. But while macro systems of injustice are fairly robust, the individual perpetrators within that system rarely are. The universe is a vast and uncaring place, and individual predators don’t get any special favors or immunity from the universe. Can predators get away with horrible exploitation? Absolutely. But in the end they are just as squishy at the rest of us, and fall just as easily when thrown down by their superiors, or when their own luck runs out.
As an example:
[spoiler] Take Harvey Weinstein, a sadistic predator much like the Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor: Weinstein readily abused his power to hurt naive people like the Vagabond. Like the Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor, Weinstein had an ironclad reputation that he maintained though a spy network.
Yet Weinstein’s crimes (and the lies hiding them) came crashing down so hard that it even affected Fallen London. Shortly after Weinstein’s fall, I noticed that the text in the card entitled The Lead was cleaned up to remove any possible interpretation of sexual exploitation: the old text had you sleeping with your lead performer whom you were the boss of, while the new text has you consulting the lead performers’s opinions as a peer intellect. This change came after a real-world Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor was taken down, so I see no reason why the one in Fallen London should be invulnerable when his real-world counterpart was far from it.
Also, the player in Fallen London wields a lot of world-changing power. As one small example, from the end of Trail and Error, the player can, with only days of effort, represent themselves in a Fallen London court against a star attorney backed by an infernal law-writing machine.[/spoiler]
And if a player can do that, then they can easily clean up one honey den, or at least force the proprietor to eat his own bees.
And I agree that it doesn’t fix the greater problem, and in any good story that harsh reality would be front-and-center. But that doesn’t remove the small value (and small amount of satisfaction) from delivering bee-eating justice where you can. ;)
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edited by Six Handed Merchant on 12/17/2017
[spoiler]At first, I resented having to sample the red honey just to know for certain whether or not her beau really betrayed her. Then I realized I was making the same mistake she made.
All the facts I needed to know about his character were already there. Being a coercer for a red honey den is damning enough. Such an individual is not likely to be reformed by any means. Having to torture someone I was trying to help to find out the truth was unnecessary- and that’s the point, isn’t it?
I don’t believe that his expressions of remorse when I met him in person were authentic, either. After all, she’s still out there, living on the streets, having strangers crawl through her memories. He’s done nothing for her. He covers his face a few times, and you’re supposed to believe he regrets it. Whatever.
The Unfortunates take the edge off the bitterness in this tale. Most people she met rewarded her trust, after all. It’s just that the one who didn’t betrayed her in the most spectacularly nasty way possible.[/spoiler]
It was good to have an Exceptional Story that involved one of Fallen London’s more macabre secrets. It was a cynical, but insightful story.
edited by Lamia Lawless on 12/20/2017
Right, so I’ve just co[color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]me back to this wonderful ga[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]me after a year or so off with a new character, and this see[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]ms like a pretty decent start for the whole process, although disguising as the Un[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]fortunates is [/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]ad[/color][color=#272830]mittedly not necessarily in line with the personality I’m cultivating, and for this reason I intentionally avoided all actual work in the house, extending the carousel a tad bit. A higher-cost action or entirely alternate route of siding with upper society and coppers to force out the Un[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]fortunates fro[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]m the charity house would’ve been lovely, but I understand that’s not really in line with the narrative and workload the artisans at Failbetter have, which is entirely fair.[/color]
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[color=rgb(39, 40, 48)][spoiler] The reward for working with the Gli[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]m-Eyed Proprietor is a fairly decent echo-saver[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)] for so[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]meone at [/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]my early stage of the ga[/color][color=rgb(39, 40, 48)]me (albeit for a faction I have nothing to do with) but I wonder how good it is for people further on who probably already own one. Oh well, 60 echoes is decent, and side rewards along the story are nice bonuses also.[/spoiler][/color]
It’s a good one, absolutely, and Delphia did so lie to herself.
That when breaking the box proved not to make much difference to the Vagabond’s suffering, she had no choice but to examine the memories for herself. That sending her to die on the Surface was about what was best for her, and not about spiting the Proprietor by ruining the honey.
I’m interested in seeing the text of the other endings, if anyone echoed them and would like to show me.
Wow. I… wow.
This story left me heart broken.
I know that stories in Fallen London are not required to have happy endings, but holy smokes, this one left me feeling utterly hopeless and miserable. I’m not sure how much I appreciate that, although it definitely does speak to the quality of the writing.
I wish there was an option to deal with the Den once and for all or to reunite the Vagabond with the young man one last time, in hopes it’d give her closure/help her remember/something.
And I didn’t like at all that the choice NOT the torture the poor soul was apparently the "wrong" one as it locked me out of potential future options or finding out the truth.
This story did not make me feel pleasant by any means, but it sure made an impact.
Wow.
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Addis Rook and the Six Handed Merchant should talk. I sent you a PM.
[Spoilers][spoiler] I’ve just started Exceptional Friendship for the first time, and I have to say that this really is a great story. I usually play a pretty ruthless character heavily involved in the Great Game, and even I found it impossible to pick the evil option. Unlike all the characters in the Neath who have ulterior motives, skeletons in their closets, and a huge tendency to backstab someone, the Withered Vagabond really is a selfless character that won the hearts of the poor.
The stark contrast of the House of Charity and the Mnenosyne Honey Den also helps with this narrative a lot since it showcases the running theme of contracts, obligations, and deals in the Season of Silver. The Withered Vagabond, despite being an incredibly rich and talented individual from the surface with no responsibility to care about others, decided to give all of that up in order to help the Unfortunates of a city next to Hell itself and they are still waiting for her return after all this time. In contrast, the Gimlet-Eyed Proprietor and the Mnenosyne honey runners are among the worst that London has to offer, having the gall to blackmail their victims, lie to their (very influential and dangerous) rich clientele, and threaten their suppliers into silence.
The Repentant Rogue’s intentions are interesting because it is up to the player’s interpretation of the tidbits from dreams and written records to decide what his true motivations were. My guess is that he originally did gain the Vagabond’s confidence in order to set her up, but saw just how kind a person she was and genuinely fell in love with her. However, the Honey Den did track him down, so both the Vagabond and the Rogue separately were trying to make a deal for the Rogue’s freedom (the letter in her parlour proves this). The Rogue became so desperate for his freedom that he did set up an operation with the honey runners ‘one last time’, but immediately regretted his actions after finding out what happened to the Vagabond. Part of what he said is true (he is called the ‘Repentant’ Rogue, the Proprietor and his honey runners are clearly looking to arrest him based on the documents, and he wouldn’t have slipped in his address to the House of Charity if she was just a mark to him), but he can’t own up to his actions even if he loves her. So yeah, he is definitely a guilty party.
For me, I just told the Withered Vagabond to forget about the Repentant Rogue and to go back to the House of Charity, in which her good deeds will finally benefit her for once and where she will be loved and protected. It will no doubt be difficult since the Mnenosyne Honey Den still has a huge amount of her red honey left and are still looking for her, but the Housekeeper and the Unfortunates had made it clear that they would protect her with their lives (it would be funny seeing those beggars finally beating down the wealthy that looked down upon them) and with time, she will recover. Sure it would be easier to send her to the surface, but I hope that this sparks a revolt, however small, against the red honey trade so that it will eventually be stopped.
But my works of mercy are only reserved for Christmas. For the innocent. On other news, I left all three of the leading criminals of Lamentation Lock to rot, letting them curse the day they met me. I did my good deed for the season, I have no regrets :D[/spoiler]
edited by The Curious Watcher on 12/31/2017
[color=#99CC66]Mod Edit: Added this to a proper spoiler tag. ^^[/color]
edited by Sara Hysaro on 12/31/2017
Please:
- Don’t change the color of your text. This is reserved for FBG stuff on these forums.
- To write (and hide) spoilers, use a spoiler tag. Similar to what you used, but a singular "spoiler" in the brackets (i.e. [ spoiler ] and [ /spoiler ], without the spaces) instead of the "Spoilers" you’ve used.
Thank you very much. I wasn’t sure how to use spoiler tags and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with changing the text color since I saw something similar in the earlier post for spoilers. I will make sure to remember this.