May Exceptional Story: The Stag and the Shark

Fallen London
1

Delicious friends, the Exceptional Story for May is here!

500×650 336 KB

[color=#cc00ff]A Young Stag has grown weary of quaffing brandy and stealing trousers. He wants to do something spectacular for his next lark – and he’s looking for a suitable chum to join him! Steer his ship on a perilous shark-watching voyage. Will he return the same man as he left?[/color]
[color=rgb(204, 0, 255)]
[/color]
[font=facitweb-1, facitweb-2, &quotLucida Sans Unicode&quot, &quotLucida Grande&quot, sans-serif][color=rgb(204, 0, 255)]The Stag and the Shark is the third story in the Season of Explorations, and was written by Mary Goodden. In this season you will experience three stories of adventure, mystery and a not inconsiderable amount of peril.

Begin with the Season of Explorations card, available throughout London.

Editing and QA: James Chew and Olivia Wood

Art by: Tobias Cook

Exceptional Friendship

In addition to a new, substantial, stand-alone story every month, Exceptional Friends enjoy:

[/color][/font][ul][li][color=rgb(204, 0, 255)]Access to the House of Chimes: an exclusive private members’ club on the Stolen River, packed with content[/color][/li][li][color=rgb(204, 0, 255)]An expanded opportunity deck: of ten cards instead of six![/color][/li][li][color=rgb(204, 0, 255)]A second candle: Twice the actions! 40 at once![/color][/li][/ul][color=rgb(194, 194, 194)][font=facitweb-1, facitweb-2, &quotLucida Sans Unicode&quot, &quotLucida Grande&quot, sans-serif][color=rgb(204, 0, 255)]
Finishing all three stories in the Season of Explorations will make you eligible for an additional opportunity, to follow.

If you want to keep an Exceptional Story beyond its release month, you must complete the related storylet in the current Season’s card. This will save it for you to return to another time.[/color][/font][/color]

2

Initially, the art led me to believe it would be an Oscar Wilde related story so I was waiting for the Epigrammatic Irishman to come up but just a few clicks in, and I knew I was mistaken.
Having fun so far!

3

I left the party. How can I return to it? The storylet is nowhere to be seen.

4

Ooo, my sympathies are definitely divided on this one. I’m leaning towards not telling any of them what any of the others are plotting, on the grounds that none of them particularly deserve special advantage.

5

&quotThe smallest child gives him an incredulous stare as he passes you the brand new equipment.&quot

Make off with the camera, then return later to photograph yourself with the Diminutive Rat Griller.
He’s got an impish charm, and that dirt on his nose just adds authenticity. Besides, it’s not every day that a Londoner’s this careless with brand new photography equipment. You’ll want to memorialise the occasion.

  • ABSCOND!

edited by Lemonadeon on 4/25/2019

6

Can anyone tell me whether, if you volunteer to take the Idle Heir’s place, there is an opportunity to NOT become a Sequencer? Or is that the inevitable result of that decision?

7

Answer: there is no later decision point, I’ve discovered, upon taking the plunge.

8

All right, I admit I am dissapointed.
Not exactly by the writing (the bound sharks were superb) but because the lack of pointers again drove me to a random conclusion. I was particularly disheartened by the ambiguity of the harpoon - I wanted to stop the heir from getting killed, not from doing something merciful. And in the end you are relegated to bit player, watching insufferable people do things without even been able to intervene or talk to them.
It might just be me, or the fact that this is the second story which &quottricks&quot you into a bad ending. Still, I enjoyed several bits - the cutlery, the body horror, the fact that certain people ended underwater. Yup, that felt good.
edited by Jolanda Swan on 4/25/2019

9

I chose to investigate everything, but not to tell anyone anything meaningful about each other; I figured they were each entitled to their plans. I let the Heir use his harpoon AND put in extra coal because, as far as I was concerned, that was part of our original deal. And at the end, I interposed myself between the Heir and the Sequencers. That path can be seen on my profile.

10

So far I mostly feel sorry for the sharks. Definitely unsure about which side to favour, if any…

11

Er, how do I progress after being told to meet them at Wolfstack Docks? There appears to be no link[li]

Edit: Leaving the party seems to reroute you to Ladybones Road. Not sure if this is a bug or not, or if there’s supposed to be a link in the Stag party at the docks
edited by Hattington on 4/25/2019

12

Ia am probably replaying this one, to do the same. But really, signposting should not be misleading.

13

Had quite a bit of fun with this one. No deeper mysteries, but I did feel bad with the Idle Heir.

I also kinda felt bad for the Fisher, but I suppose it was poetic that she be devoured by the Bound Sharks, when she was one of the ones to bind them so tortuously.

14

Finally finished this one, and while I was a bit concerned about the action sinks-the vested interests’ gift is excellent. I wonder what having the Dawn Machine’s light AND a Sorrow Spider egg behind your eyes does? Will they rebel against each other, or will my skull be the cradle of the world’s first Sequence Spider?

15

I’m currently at the point where I have to decide on the speed of the boat, and oh boy, I’ve pondered less on more weighty decisions!
I’m pretty sure I don’t want the Baron to catch up, so that’s only two options left. On the one hand, it would be nice to favour the Heir with going fast, and as a player of Sunless Sea, I have no love for the New Sequence either, so letting their secret route be discovered can be regarded as a plus. Then on the other hand, my character doesn’t exactly know much about them, so the Baron’s confrontation with the fleet might seem more fitting from that point of view.
Decisions, decisions!

16

I actually almost found this story pretty underwhelming (I followed the Baron’s plans and was like &quothuh, barely anything actually happened&quot) because I had no idea the New Sequence were even a thing until now, but wow now that I’ve read up on them and checked out how the story ends on its other paths, I’m -really- glad I made the decisions I did. One Heir saved from a life of being under mind-control and one less person recruiting people to be mind-controlled is a plus in my book any day.

17

You see, now I’m annoyed with the decisions I made. I don’t like the New Sequencers either, but I thought that the decision was either the Heir becomes one or you do. That’s slightly frustrating. I wish there was some way you could replay the exceptional stories. This is my second one, and while I don’t mind my character left with regrets, it’s less fun as a player.
edited by Varis on 4/26/2019

18

If you have a Volume of Collated Research, it opens up a third option at Grand Geode that helps save the both of you.

19

Yeah I never even got that far :slightly_frowning_face:

20

[quote=Varis]You see, now I’m annoyed with the decisions I made. I don’t like the New Sequencers either, but I thought that the decision was either the Heir becomes one or you do. That’s slightly frustrating. I wish there was some way you could replay the exceptional stories. This is my second one, and while I don’t mind my character left with regrets, it’s less fun as a player.
edited by Varis on 4/26/2019[/quote]
But you can replay them later on! When the season is finished, the stories will be up for purchase for Fate, and at that point can be reset for anyone as per the usual Fate story rules. You only have to wait a couple of months.