Since this Festival can be a bit confusing the first time round, I thought I’d clarify the workings here. It’s not very complicated at all:
Offer your Strange Catch to the Drownies to unlock your character’s Destiny. You need SC 5 for this. In case you haven’t unlocked your favourite Destiny yet or just can’t decide, don’t worry: similar options will open during the Halloween and Christmas festivals. Note that picking this sends you back to London! If you’re thrifty with your actions you might want to save doing this for when you actually want to return there, saving the cost and actions for taking the ferry… ;)
Offer a Hooded Lady your Strange Catch to go to the Wreckers’ Cove. You can pick one of several equippable items there, some of which are more useful than others. Your SC value determines which items will be visible for you to pick from. (You can also buy previous years’ equipment with Fate.) [More detailed mechanics explanation: your SC value is randomly converted into a quality called "Picking through the Wreckers’ Cove", so you’ll never know exactly which items will be available before you enter the Cove. If you’re looking to get the most valuable items it can be useful to enter with SC 8 or 9 or even more.][b]
[/b]3) This year, there’s also a pretty long story concerning our new Mayor. It starts with this storylet. After that, bring her a SC of any value - you only lose 1 level of SC, so you can use the same catch for something else afterwards - for example, to bring the Mayor a particular item from the Wreckers’ Cove… 4) Ask the Custodial Chef to prepare your Strange Catch if you have trouble with Wounds. Don’t worry about letting them reach 6 or 7 - the Chef will usually give you a complete wipe, or nearly, depending on your SC value. Note: Reaching Wounds 8 during the Festival doesn’t kill you, it just sends you back to London - but you’re going to lose at least 2 levels of Dangerous & Shadowy!
Give your Strange Catch to the Melancholy Curate if you have trouble with Nightmares. Don’t worry about letting them reach 6 or 7 - the Curate will usually give you a complete wipe, or nearly, depending on your SC value. Note: Reaching Nightmares 8 during the Festival won’t send you to the usual menace zones, just back to London - but you’re going to lose at least 2 levels of Watchful & Persuasive!
Throw it into the well to receive an assortment of goods. This is mostly useful for early-game players, if at all. edited by phryne on 8/24/2020
Should you chose to offer your catch to a Hooded Lady, you’re going to gain the quality "Picking through Wrecker’s Cove" by exchanging your Strange Catch. This is may be as many as half of the Strange Catch you started with, so keep that you’ll want to aim fairly high for the more valuable items.
(Edit to clarify: in 2015 decreases seemed to be limited to -3, there has been cases of losses down to half for 2016) edited by Parelle on 8/17/2016
Is there a lower bound on how much it can drop then? I thought it was PtWC was set to between 1 and SC, but you seem to be saying it’s set to between SC-3 and SC?
I’m almost certain it can be between half your level of Catch and your full level of Catch, and I’m pretty sure it’s decided at random.
EDIT: "it" being the Wrecker’s Cove value. edited by Barselaar on 8/15/2016
Yes. Everything is new by what I’m reading, with old stuff being fate locked. As well with a Wreckers Cove of 7 you can get a piece of headwear relating to our mayor… edited by Cthonius on 8/15/2016
Raising the Strange Catch’s quality over 6 seems heavily dependent on RNG. I’ve gone a few rounds of fishing, heaving my catch enough times to start with 3 Running Battle, but without the options to use items (zee-stories or partial maps) it seems impossible to raise it past 6 before your time is up. How on earth do you get it up to 10?
Yeah, that’s how I got it to 3 at the start, but the quirk checks only give 2 CP, added up to 20 CP isn’t enough to raise the SC’s quality over 6. Not without getting the third options to use items for more CP, which is what I was wondering about.
As far as i see, if you’re going on a second round of fishing, running battle is “halved” quite approx. Had 8, got 4 on next round, had 7 - got 4 as well. It looks like it’s the same mix of luck and RNG that would give you particularly good Airs
Okay, I was worried SC 7 would get rounded down back to 3 again, so I bailed once I got it that high just to get something. Will have to try again once the Hooded Lady deigns to show up.
[quote=narcomanic]How on earth do you get it up to 10?[/quote]By using the item options over the quirky ones whenever possible, and by throwing my catches back quite often ;)
Can now confirm that halving SC is real: just got 4 "Picking" from 8 SC. edited by phryne on 8/16/2016
Can anyone clarify where/how you return the wimple to Jenny? Do you go back to London? I tried going to the Lighthouse, and also speaking to her when she appears at the meal with the Curate. But it doesn’t seem to trigger any new dialogue related to the wimple.
[quote=narcomanic]When turning in your Strange Catches to the Chef or the Curate, does the catch level have any effect on the amount of each menace’s CP removed?[/quote]Yes, it does - slightly. You always lose a large chunk of the menace regardless, and I mostly got complete wipes.
[quote=Appolonia]Can anyone clarify where/how you return the wimple to Jenny? Do you go back to London? I tried going to the Lighthouse, and also speaking to her when she appears at the meal with the Curate. But it doesn’t seem to trigger any new dialogue related to the wimple.[/quote]It’s with the other Festival options, the Sights at the Festival value is the same as for the Hooded Lady (86-100).