"Disgraced no longer"

Fallen London
1

I recently have finished the hunt for the big rat.

I had been trotting along the story happily enough, working with what had become one of my favourite companions through the game.

I named him Tim, he had nothing to lose, and everything to kill. He was my first companion, having bested him in the war for my lodgings (which is still one of the most amusing stories I have played thus far), and remained my ‘go-to-guy’ for everything dangerous for some time.

Eventually though, I found myself using my delightly dangerous mandrake friend, and later still, I found myself looking at the bazaar to find better pets once more.

Now, I had read somewhere that you could buy a rattus faber bandit chief from the big rat for a reduced price, so me and tim, well, we set about the grizzly business of finding the big lurk.

It was slow progress, but it was definitely progress as we eventually found ourselves at a rather key interval of the mission.

&quotLet me have this one. It’s time I cleared my name.&quot

&quotGame Instructions: This is probably a suicide mission, but at least he’ll die redeemed.&quot

I hesitated. I did not want to lose tim. But he asked for the job. It was sad. It was bittersweet. I didn’t need him anymore so it wasn’t going to hurt my game too much and…well, it seemed a fitting and dignified end for an old friend, rather than to just let him collect dust in my inventory.

I made the call. I sent him on his way, stoic in my decision, but knowing it was going to hurt.

&quotAn unlooked for escape&quot

Wait a second…

He was back. Not just back. He was back and better than ever. The magnificent bastard had made it, confidence returned, a lackey no more, but a partner in crime.

In one fell swoop, Tim had saved the day, completed his mission, restored his honour, taken away the only thing that had me considering sparing the big rat and had earned a permanent seat as my second in command.

This has honestly got to be my favourite thing to have happened in my story of fallen london. There are achievements I am proud of, items I am glad to have, stories I enjoyed playing.

But this one sequence, this one, unexpected heartwarming single turn of events stands out as the best experience I have had in this game and I just wanted to share that with you guys.
edited by Neonir on 7/20/2016

2

That is an incredibly heart-warming story. How absolutely wonderful. My most emotional moments tend to be of loss in this game, to see one that is so remarkably and unabashedly positive is really just wonderful.

3

My most bittersweet one was on the exact same mission, when I lost Guv’nor, my disgraced rattus faber chief. I actually sacrificed him because it said I’d get a chance to get him back later, I assumed that meant paying a tribute of rostygold or jade or glim or whatever, but it turns out I need to dock 10 fate, and I’ll NEVER dock fate. Usually I don’t disagree with Failbetter’s choices on fate-locked content, but it’s heartbreaking that they try to guilt you into buying back your chief.

4

[quote=Neonir]I recently have finished the hunt for the big rat.

<snipped to avoid wasting Forum space; go read Neonir’s post if you haven’t; it’s marvelous!>
This has honestly got to be my favourite thing to have happened in my story of fallen london. There are achievements I am proud of, items I am glad to have, stories I enjoyed playing.

But this one sequence, this one, unexpected heartwarming single turn of events stands out as the best experience I have had in this game and I just wanted to share that with you guys.
edited by Neonir on 7/20/2016[/quote]

I agree with absimiliard 100%. Neonir, your tale is a great story. And it also illustrates one of the finest qualities of Fallen London–the way it jet-assists the stories we want to tell ourselves.

5

Thank you for sharing that, Neonir! Like you, like so many others, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Disgraced Bandit Chief … more than so many of the Companions available he has a story and personality. I still miss him … but I’m glad he has returned to you!

6

That’s really quite sweet. Glad he’s back home where he belongs :D

7

This, and also that this is one of the few stories I’ve seen where you can get such a dramatic turn of events based on chance, like, whether or not your li’l buddy dies, or comes back in all his former glory is based on the luck of the roll, and it kinda just adds this whole…well, fated quality to it in my opinion. It’s not that I looked up what to do, it’s not that I spent ages grinding till I knew I was gunna get the good thing. It was just luck, all the odds said I’d lose what had been effectively the most prevalent side character in my game thus far, but then, in an almost unprecedented stroke of luck, he lived.

I would have been alright if he had died, sad, but alright, but to just have the oppotunity for good luck to take the wheel and actually change something that means stuff? I dont know, that strikes me as a nice little element of reality in the game, that some of it is ultimately out of your hands, and you gotta let go at let what happens happen.

I cant think of another part of the game that has stood out this much to me, where through sheer luck, you can have your own little bit of specialness to your story, part that the story wrote for itself.

(In a strange way, it remind me somewhat of the nuzlocke challenge in pokemon in which you only catch the first pokemon you find in each area, and then if a pokemon feints, you release it. Sure, it leads to some crushing lows, but it also kinda develops a deeper investment into the fate of your story to a degree, and makes each pokemon matter more.)