“Art must rid itself of tired nostalgia! London needs artwork that reflects not how it was, but how it is now!”
A new artistic school, styling themselves ‘the Children of the Glow’, has arisen from the dark. Their works are ethereal, glowing with an inner light that is a balm in the Neath’s shadowed corners. London’s fickle attention is piqued – and where public interest moves, the press must follow! As (temporary) arts correspondent for the London Unexpurgated Gazette, Mr Huffam has charged you with delivering the scoop on this shining clique of creatives. Unravel their politics. Rummage in their art supplies. Untangle, bit by bit, the mystery of their muse: the Luminous Miss Sparks.
You’ve got a deadline, and column inches to fill. What are you waiting for?
In addition to a new, substantial, stand-alone story every month, Exceptional Friends enjoy:
Access to the House of Chimes: an exclusive private member’s club on the Stolen River
Access to Mr Chimes’ Lost & Found, a shop in the Bazaar where you can exchange currency earned through playing Exceptional Stories for exclusive companions and items
Three additional outfit slots
An expanded opportunity deck of ten cards instead of six!
Hmmmm, where are you heading with this interesting ESs? I feel that the scope of… of everything down here becomes bigger and bigger.
Should we be getting ready for a grander event?
I wish there had been more nuanced options with how to handle the situation. It felt very black and white and like… it’s a text based role playing game so I kindof want more shades of grey from long form stories?
That said the content was very fun!
I went up and down on this one. I really like the section with the company owner, some of the early investigation stuff. I wish we’d got a little more Varchas, but that might just be because I’ve played their Sunless Sea arc a number of times so it felt a little deja vu at times. It seemed like one of those stories where the option to move on without asking or telling people everything might have helped give a bit more weight to whether or not you told people the truth, but I get that having a lot of additional endings would require a lot of additional writing and that might be a fiddle.
I basically agree with everything sebastianolmen said in the above post.
I was really excited when it turned out we were going to Varchas! Especially as that kind of came out of nowhere - the scope of the story really expands as you’re playing it. Obviously, more time in Varchas would’ve been great, but sticking to the “one day only, Taamas” rule made it really feel in sync with Sunless Sea.
I liked the story in general - and liked some parts very much - but my personal gripe was being constantly pushed to publish something when I really wanted to just keep everything to myself and not publish anything. To be able to tell Mr Huffam: “Sorry, didn’t find out anything” or give him a story so boring he wouldn’t even print it. It’s not like I had any sort of contractual obligation to him!
I also think it would make sense to include such an ending, as it basically represents the “Shadowy” side of FL characters which I feel is often overlooked in Exceptional Stories - the authors of ES sometimes seem to assume that all FL characters are fame-seeking extroverts who’ll do anything for a mention in the Gazette. I’m always thrilled when an ES offers me the option to just keep all the information I’ve gathered to myself and walk away without confronting anyone with it. After all, secret information ceases being valuable on publication…
One more thing: that moment in Varchas when our characters are asked if they’re lying for a living should really have an option for Spymasters, Crooked-Crosses and other Mithridacy experts to just collapse in a mad laughing fit
Has anyone decided to write a scandalous exposé at the end? And if so, could you post an echo here, please?
So far, I’ve published a positive coverage with my alt, with the relevant echoes starting here for those interested.
Spoiler:
I’m also wondering if there’s a way to save Miss Sparks from dying from the illness, perhaps by publishing one of the less sterling pieces, thus limiting and/or stopping the powder’s use and her exposure. While my main character may not agree with all her business and social decisions, he’d definitely want to use his considerable knowledge and resources to make sure this artistic mastermind has due time to bloom to her full potential.
Except the editor doesn’t let you and forces you to chose another option because his wife would look like an idiot if the truth came out, because she was acquaintances with girlie pop scammer lady.
It’s why I really don’t like this story. Between how linear it is (not a whole lot of branches in the build up) and this, it really feels railroaded and not even to a fun destination.
In one of my endings, Miss Sparks founded a small school of arts for impoverished children, and wasn’t mentioned after that.
In the other, she won an award, but was too ill to attend, had a memorial, and was removed to Tomb Colonies.
I feel that the scope of… of everything down here becomes bigger and bigger.