“Nothing but blackness outside – unless there’s a deeper colour within the blackness. Peligin or gant, perhaps. The longer you stare, the more you begin to see shades: the blackness that conceals, the blackness that reveals, the blackness before death. (The blackness after death isn’t here. You’re not deep enough. Yet.)”
Chapter Six of Evolution is out now! Go back to the beginning and retrieve the Shell of Regret from Orchard House. Construct a diving bell and dive into uncharted depths. There are secrets in the deep – secrets long thought buried. Secrets belonging to the Naturalist, the Dilmun Club, and to powers far, far older than both.
The Youthful Naturalist is running out of time. He has never been closer to death. If he wishes to change his Destiny, he must seize fate with both hands and act. But he cannot do it alone. He needs supplies. He needs his friends. And most of all, he needs your help.
Evolution is available to everyone who has a ship and has delved into the mysteries of the Dilmun Club – specifically, you will need to have completed a trip to the Court of the Wakeful Eye and obtained the quality ‘Associating with Radical Academics’ at 75. The entirety of the serial story is free, and available to all players.
This is the penultimate of Evolution’s seven chapters, and picks up from the previous chapter through the London Opportunity Deck. There is one final experiment left to conduct. Evolution will conclude in Irem, later this year.
[You will need to gather equipment from Port Cecil, the Fleet of Truth, a Khaganian Patrol Vessel, and the Court of the Wakeful Eye. Once you set zail, you’ll be able to review these destinations again with the Youthful Naturalist at zee.]
So I have visited all four of the places above and done the Evolution-themed content, and received a message saying “You have almost everything you need” – but there is no new storylet anywhere that I can find, and there is no new conversation option with the Naturalist while at Zee to suggest what else I should do. Suggestions? How can I check what needs to be done, or otherwise progress the story?
Is there a way to see which pieces the game thinks you have? I’ve done all four storylets and don’t want to repeat ALL of them.
Edited to add: answered my own question by looking at the Wiki. Apparently, despite having an “Associated with a Young Naturalist” value of 550, I’m not getting the “Discuss the Diving Bell” option to appear when I’m at Zee – which is also preventing anything from happening at Godfall. I’ll report that as a bug.
You need to draw Fleet of Truth at least twice to progress. Maybe same thing with Khanate patrol. Check your qualities in the Naturalist’s storylet in your ship.
I visited two Science destination islands (Bullbone, Corpsecage) before I saw the Fleet of Truth and a storylet allowing me to “talk” to scholars on Orthos’s boad while zailing towards Grunting Fen, the third science exploration island. Amalgamate is right, though; after you talk to the scholars once, you need to do so a second time.
I’m at the part where you need to sail 'round the Neath to map out the place you’re supposed to drop the diving bell. So far I’ve only picked up one of the cards advancing the quality, and the map is still telling me I should go to all the destinations. Anyone notice a specific order that can accelerate it, or am I stuck randomly hunting between ports?
Beats me. I’ve been wandering around aimlessly since yesterday without seeing any of the jellyfish I’m looking for. It’s almost as much fun as my “I’ll probably die before this succeeds” hellworm grind. :)
I’ve found 3 Jellyfish so far and I think I’m going to take a break and let them show up organically on my weekly trip(s) out to the Khanate, or let this be an excuse to make more trips (or pit-stops) to places I don’t usually get to. I’ve saved the Shell to my Delighted/Zeefaring outfit so that I can conveniently forget to equip it before drawing a fresh hand of Cards and miss out on both Rosy Dreams and Jellyfish at the same time.
The writing’s all lovely, but I’d like to highlight the second meeting with the Shifty Scholars as text that especially touched my heart: just the perfect balance of oddly sweet and sad, I think.
I very much enjoy the treasure hunt nature of this update, even if I have to keep fighting the need the gobble up all the new content as quickly as possible. And it’s nice! There’s fresh content waiting for me at Zee, what a wonderful state to be in.
I like the way this ES integrates the activities needed to progress the Story with the normal activities one does on the Unterzee. It makes the story feel more real, and the zailing more fresh.