Fallen London: the Candlefinder Society

Fallen London
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The Missing Candle is a reliably quiet pub in Veilgarden – the drinks are cheap, the food is… extant. These days it is best known as the meeting place of a very exclusive club – one that happens to include you.

Today, we are releasing the first of a new series of Fallen London stories. The Candlefinder Society – the five greatest detectives in London – regularly meet to talk shop. Sometimes, they join forces to unravel the city’s most unusual mysteries.

These are episodic stories set in London, available from the midgame onwards. To unlock it:

  • Complete ‘A Name in Seven Secret Alphabets’ (raise that quality to 7)
  • Complete ‘A Name Whispered in Darkness’ (raise that quality to 7)
  • Raise your unmodified Watchful to 90 or more

If you meet those conditions, you can begin the story by drawing a guaranteed card in London.

How Candlefinder cases work

This initial batch contains two free cases: The Missing Comb and the Dead Puppet; as well as the first premium case, the Empty Belfry. Candlefinder stories are individually quite short; while they can be replayed, they are designed as one-offs rather than repeatable activities, with a mix of recurring elements and unique story beats.

Candlefinder cases range in difficulty, with harder cases potentially requiring access to later-game areas and higher attributes. In this first batch, the Missing Comb is intended as an introduction to the format and should be playable by everyone who can unlock Candlefinder Society; the other two require higher attributes and later game progression.

Once started, cases must be finished before you can start another one or replay a past case. Cases can be replayed; Fate cases don’t cost anything to replay. But the reward for completing a given case for the first time is more substantial.

Future cases

We expect to release these in pairs: one free case, one Fate case at a time. They’ll come out in irregular intervals.

We’re not committing to doing a specific number of these; we may do more or less based on player response.

Just one more thing…

I know you are all also expecting news about Advent, other Christmas treats, and the upcoming Firmament updates. I do want to acknowledge that the small Firmament update has been delayed, though not by much.

More information on all of this to come later this week.

Source: https://www.failbettergames.com/news/fallen-london-the-candlefinder-society :purple_square:

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Just rename Firmament to Delay already.

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Awesome! But nooo I mistakenly discarded it, how often does the card appear?

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Er… What am I supposed to do once I left the the Shuttered Palace? I expected some heist in the Flint, but I can’t find the option…

[Edited]
Oh, OK, I need to plan a heist…

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I’m on the Mr. Punch case, lost track of where I need to go to talk to the Clay Suspect. Anyone know where I need to go?

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I’m lost. Comb case.

I did the heist in the Flit. Then I trailed her through Spite. Concluding that got me to Candlefinder 10, but now idk where to go. Reddit said another heist, but Plan a Heist doesn’t bring up anything new. Did I miss something?

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The second task is a burglary, not a heist. Raise Casing to 5, and then go into the Big Score storylet.

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I’m confused too.

I’m doing the “Dead Puppet” mystery.

The storylets during the “detecting” phase suggested that the Clay Culprit is somewhere in the Tomb Colonies, but the last storylet in that series indicating that he has an address at an unknown place in the Forgotten Quarter. But there are no new storylets there, indicating where to go looking for the Culprit. Should I go to the Tomb Colonies? I’m short on actions right now or I would have tried that already.

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Afraid not; I’m having the same problem.

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So, I am in very beginning. Got the card. From somebody I never heard of. To meet in location that I never heard of. But text for some reason states that it’s “implicit”. After using the option I am moved to said location and text states that I am the member of the elite club, which I never heard of and never signed in with.

Is it something with my memory, or it’s yet another case when FL assumes that we are extremely familiar with something that we never encountered?

I had most jarring experience back in the old days when I encountered Virginia for the first time, Game constantly assumes that she is somebody important and that player knows her or about her… only because she was candidate and later mayor of London… in the days before I joined the game (and probably 95%+ of the player base).

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It may have been a while, but you’ve definitely encountered some of them! The Honey Addled Detective features prominently in the Making Your Name: watchful storyline, which you must have completed to draw that card. The Implacable Detective shows up in a wide variety of places including the constables faction card, l the high suspicion card “the vigilant gentlemen in blue” and several early/mid game storylines (Cheery Man & the Last Constable, the Secular Missionary, etc). Notably in the context of you being a member of an exclusive detectives club, both of them ask for your assistance on cases at least once.

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I think I’m slightly behind where you are on that case, but as I understand it, it was the puppet-maker (i.e. latest victim), not the Clay Culprit, who went to the Tomb-Colonies.

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Yes, but calling card is specifically from the Urchin Detective, whom I never ever heard of. And how could I recognize his handiwork without being very familiar with him? And deduce the place?

" An Impromptu Invitation
A calling card of sorts has been left in your lodgings. It’s clearly a cut-up piece of newspaper with the print mostly scraped away and replaced with new writing – the Urchin Detective’s handiwork. On the back, written in more recent ink, is a time and date."

“Join the meeting at the Missing Candle
The location is implicit.”

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Nov 23 ES The Stripes of Wrath is the background story. I see that it’s on discount too!

Hmmmm, out of place, true! Great catch!

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Hope you’ve got it, but just in case: it’s an expedition in the forgotten quarter.

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It is from an ES.

I’m in the same boat as you of having never done it but I am somewhat aware of it thanks to out-of-game stuff. Which isn’t an assumption that should be made for every player, as you demonstrate.

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I’ll be honest, with how little agency I feel Firmament provides anyway I’m not exactly in a rush to get back to it.

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Protip for lost detectives:
Look for “Candlefinder” quality in your MYSELF tab, it usually provides clear directions.

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You are probably right. I tried going to the Tomb Colonies (twice; once by ship to Tanah-Chook and once by gaining 8 Scandal) and found nothing. Still don’t know how to continue the story.

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I should have thought of that! Thanks for the suggestion.