Item Giveaway: Another Thirteen Days of Mr Hexed

Fallen London
1

They say it was the first Relicker, and someday it’ll be the last. Supposedly green ambers glow in its presence, and black ambers explode. Why are some so insistent that, should you pass it by, you wish it ‘good day’?

Greetings my near-hairless ape friends and companions to the second amazing [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] coin giveaway extravaganza. For the benefit of the few of you not acquainted with our many fantastical and wholly true tales, allow me to introduce myself. I am the dashing and brave legendary rodent hero Longtail, loyal servant and dear friend to the mysterious enigmatic puzzle (and conundrum) that is [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color]! My master is a man (or woman?) of strange fortune, and quite the desire to spread it around. Theirs is the single largest collection of first city coins one could ever wish to find down here, and it continues to grow like a stubborn weed. It’s their benevolent work or perhaps sinister scheme that on certain days, a single one of you will find in your possession a bag of 210 first city coins, hand-counted by my master six times with one hand and seven times with the other. It is my announcement to you all that such days are quite near again: from the 13th to the 26th, those who sign up here may test their fortunes and risk a gift of coins from my master. There is no cost to signing up. [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] asks nothing of its benefactees - not even a single action (besides signing up) needs to be taken to accept its presents. If you go by some alias in these community forums, then please make sure you give the name you’re most known by in Fallen London. Alternatively, you may sign up by sending a message here.

Ah, but I do grow quite bored. And there are yet some worthy stories we’ve lived that are largely unknown. Perhaps it would interest some of you to lend an ear to my whiskered face, that I may pass onto you the extravagant tales of [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color]. Tales beyond the wildest imaginations of London’s maddest scholars. Some so incredible as to defy those of weak mind, that they instinctively cry out &quotit’s a sham!&quot to defend their fragile psyches from the sharp fangs of truth. But none more spectacular or breathtakingly supreme than the tale of its origin, which answers such Earth-shattering questions as what it is and why it’s giving away incredible coin. This last recounting I sadly cannot give directly. I have sworn an oath of secrecy to my master to keep its most guarded secrets from ever leaving the vault of my mind. But you London blokes are quite the clever lot. I have no doubt that a careful and diligent listener to my tales could put the pieces together and learn my master’s identity without my breaking that oath. Surely there’d be no harm in that. If such mysteries intrigue you, as the sharpness of wit I see in your eyes would suggest, then please go ahead and ask me some questions. Tell me what you wish to know that I may weave a great and accurate tale to answer you.

Winners:

  1. Optimatum
  2. DavidJ
  3. Saklad5
  4. javelin4201
  5. Arensen
  6. Reinol von Lorica
  7. PhiriUlfur
  8. GregM
  9. Martin Walker
  10. Optimatum
  11. cathyr19355
  12. HoneyAddict
  13. Ginneon Thursday

edited by Longtail on 13/13/2013
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2

If you wish to amuse yourself with random generosity, sir, I would not presume to stop you. Please consider this message a request to sign me up for your impromptu lottery. My character’s name in FL is cathyr19355.

I would wish to know what circumstances brought you to the Neath.
edited by cathyr19355 on 4/12/2018
Thank you! Actually, I came to the Neath for a very similar reason. May you find the vengeance you desire.
edited by cathyr19355 on 4/15/2018

3

I have seen stranger things in my time below, and have no doubt that I will see stranger still. Nonetheless, few such strange things purport to be so generous, so I will throw my exceptional hat into the ring for this lottery.
edited by Arensen on 4/9/2018

4

I do hope it is not considered greedy for me to try a second attempt. The more such Coins I have for when I get to play The Marvelous the better.

5

My first encounter with Mr Hexed was quite profitable, and as such I hope you forgive me for trying again. I would also be amenable to tales of terror!

6

I was quite unlucky in the last lottery, so you’ll have to excuse for me for wishing to try again. Sign me up, and thank your patron for me!

7

How delicious! How fortunate! Do please sign me up.

8

Sign me up, good person!

9

Might I join as well?

10

My main could greatly profit from such a thing. Sign me up as well, if you could be so kind!

11

Ginneon Thursday would delight at the chance to benefit once more from the bounties of Mr Hexed.

As far as questions for you, brave Longtail, concerning your friend’s true nature…let us see…

We may not ask who or what he is, or why he is giving away his coins. Let us begin here, then: how did you and Mr Hexed become such dear friends?

12

Delicious! I should like to partake in this event of yours. I, Cair-var, would be delighted to learn of your master’s exploits. I’d rather not be greedy, so I’ll limit my query to this: I once heard a rumour that Mr. Hexed had quite disagreement with a certain Master. Is this rumour correct, and if so, could you elaborate on its true nature?

13

Most Curious, please do tell me the stories about your master. They sound interesting to say in the very least.

14

Quite the tragic tale. I once lived with my family in a church house. Church of St. Maug-something, I think. Forgive me, my memory is a bit fuzzy from the time before I felt the Neath’s influence on my mind. The cleric put quite the effort into expelling my family, but we were always two steps ahead. Really, we’d have somehow worked out our room and board if the clergyman could understand us. Surface rats speak just the same as us Neath ones - the difference is you Neath folk actually listen. One day the cleric did something we didn’t expect - he lit the whole church on fire and left. I was the lone survivor. Longtail’s face shows enormous grief, but something about it seems entirely fake. I quickly learned why - that priest had no more need of his church because he was moving to the Neath. I came here in hopes of finding that man so that I could bring him to justice with my own claws.

Dear friends? I suppose we are rather close, though [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] would certainly loath to admit it. Where did we meet, you ask? Give me a minute to come up with a good l… I mean, to remember. Ah yes, it was in the Royal Bethlehem. The fellas the manager brings in, the dazed ones I mean, tend to be easy marks for a pickpocket of my size. One day the manager smelled strongly of cheese. I figured maybe he had some on him, and that I could steal a good nibble if I played my cards right. I followed him around the whole hotel, even to places I’ve never seen, waiting for the right opening. Just when I was about to quit we hit a hallway with a set of stairs up, but they didn’t lead anywhere. When the manager reached the stairs (and I know he’ll deny it) he started walking down them. Down stairs that only go up. At this point I knew I’d gone mad. And when I tried to follow him, I only went up. But then I closed my eyes and followed the smell of cheese. I felt myself descending, and when the floor stopped going down I opened my eyes. I was at the bottom floor of the hotel. While the upper levels are nice and fancy, the bottom floor is in complete tatters. Torn wallpaper, claw marks in the walls, you name it. The manager was nowhere in sight, but the cheese I’d been following was. It lied in front of a door, the kind of door you’d think a resident lived behind. It even came with its own room number: room negative one. I grabbed the cheese, but I was curious so I tried the door. It was locked, but I had my lock picks. Behind that door I saw an emaciated [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color], chained to the wall. There was a strange diagram painted on the wall behind it, and looking at it gave me a headache. I think it somehow kept [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] weak. I don’t know why, but I decided then to help it escape. The next morning I figured the whole thing a dream, and maybe it was, except that I still had the cheese.

Oh yes, what an interesting rumor. And one I don’t even recall making u… I mean making public. The incident is quite fresh in my memory - in the Forgotten Quarter, Mr Lies and its men were meticulously forging what archeologists call the history of the fourth city. You know, there were never horses in the real fourth city and not many amulets. [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] was interested in the cursed ruins too. In case you can’t tell, it has an interest in curses. There was an enormous old wishing fountain in the city filled with coins of aluminum. Mr Lies wished to melt them down to make a statue, but [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] wanted them for the power held in their unfulfilled wishes. Mr Lies thought it won and started the melting process, only to find it had melted down not the coins but its own men. [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] had cursed it with false eyes and traitorous ears. In return, Mr Lies moved [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] from its list of ises to its list of is-nots. Quite the punishment, I must say.

Oh, I’ll tell you one of my favorites! You’ve heard of the Calendar Council, right? The lot were having a financial crisis. One of them had spent all the group’s money on honey and cheese. They came to [color=131313]Mr Hexed[/color] crawling on their knees, begging for its help. My gracious master agreed to aid them, but its assistance would come at a cost. They were to surrender to it the 13th month. Now that was a month rarely seen even in the Neath. You need a special kind of honey just to visit it for a short time. Truly of little value to the council. Even so, they were outraged by such a proposal. It was then that I stepped in. For hours I gave them my most elegant and persuasive arguments. You could see in their eyes how my words enchanted them. When I finished they gave me thunderous applause. And not only did they agree to give my master a month - they resolved that I should receive a whole year. And that is why today we have the Year of the Rat!
edited by Longtail on 4/14/2018

15

Quite the tragic tale. I once lived with my family in a church house. Church of St. Maug-something, I think. Forgive me, my memory is a bit fuzzy from the time before I felt the Neath’s influence on my mind. The cleric put quite the effort into expelling my family, but we were always two steps ahead. [/quote]

coughs, delicately

You wouldn’t happen to hail from Wortlethorpe, perchance?
edited by Teaspoon on 4/15/2018

16

If there is still space for me, I would be happy to sign up for this lottery.

If not, well … I applaud your charity, good rat.

17

‘Dear Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes.’ How does one address a rodent that earned ones respect?
'Let me start over

Dear Longtail,
can you still sign me up for the lottery? I am a bit late, but it was only thanks to your latest story that it came to my attention.
However, it directly peaked my interest. A rat going to the Neath, what a journey that must have been. And then suddenly
discovering that here we can understand every word you say.

Mr Hexed and you must be a special pair. I suppose those the Council, and others who want to get rid of the Chain,
would listen to a rats and human beings alike, but the Council giving in to demands is for both rats and humans very uncommon.
That and cursing a Master make me wonder: Is Mr Hexem aligned with a greater power, like Storm or the Fingerkings?

I am also curious about the coins. I know coins tend to turn up all round the city, but if one is dealing in large amounts of
First city coins, one is bound to cross paths with the Numismatrix. How is the relationship between her and your Master?

18

If I could, I would like to sign up. And, if I may, Mr. (Mrs.?) Longtail, what does your master aspire to/to be?
edited by Ixc on 4/15/2018

19

I’ll jump in! And thank you for running this, Longtail!

20

What an interesting game.

So, Longtail, where are the hottest lady rats to be found?