Ironically enough, I would have been happy to provide sustenance to that leech if he was forthcoming and honest about it. I’m sure he had a lot of interesting knowledge to barter in return. But take away the option of consent?! I made sure to obliterate it.
“Leech” is a great word for the Vicomte, though “tick” would have been even better, in my opinion. The description of him in the final scene reminded me powerfully of an engorged tick.
So, we can add ticks, leeches and mosquitoes to the list of animals mr. Groover has handled so far.
A brilliant, highly enjoyable, well-written story, with interesting mechanics, nice pacing and even bit of a thrill when prowling through the various buildings.
Beside the material rewards, which were quite nice, I immensely appreciate all the nice lore drops and snippets we got here. It was another prime opportunity to learn many delicious secrets for my character, who is an academic to a fault, and this in turn was the reason why I chose to walk out on the Vicomte instead of popping him.
Oh, and since so many of you spoke highly of the skillfully utilized references to and vibe of Dracula, I need to point out that the story also included incredibly well handled and evocative allusions to Nosferatu of the classical film fame, and with the cosmic topic and both references to as well as subversion of the theme of “rats in the walls” was also distinctly lovecraftian.
Only one missing was perhaps Carmilla (though some of what the Vicomte said was quite similar to her approach to love and life), who my character would probably gladly have given a few transfusions to, actually.
All in all, I found this story sublime, probably one of my favourite. I will, in fact, subscribe with my so far unexceptional alt, just because this story fits her so well!
My only wish is that FBG implements a possibility to upgrade the lodging to 4 cards, which would be quite a bit more fitting considering it’s a large chateau. And a 4-card, remote lodging would be something quite useful to many players, I imagine.
So.
I reactivated my exceptional friendship because this story intrigued me and I was not disappointed.
Other than one bad run of luck that forced me to hang out with The Tick, I loved every minute (and didn’t really mind about that).
Beautifully written, lore-adding, and just cool. Good stuff. I already own the Marsh House, so I’m not sure I’ll stay in this place, but kudos to everyone.
Oh, edited to add that it’s nice to see just how much Penstock really sucks as a person. The years of hinting at it has paid off.
edited by Toran on 1/18/2021
That was mostly a fun story. I wasn’t quite sure whether the inclusion of a stereotypical vampire in FL is refreshing or lazy, but that wasn’t actually an issue. Exploring the lairs was fun, escpecially due to the writing, like how the word "to employ" was employed. The major issue to me was though how in the end, the story critically lacked tension. When I first caught the Vicomte’s attention and saw I could ignore him I knew that he was no threat. During the final dinner, I would have swatted him like a fly but he proved himself to be annoying but harmless. He is intrusive and his charm is a brainless waste of time, but I respect insectoid life even when it tries to suck my blood so I just ignored him. Then I also decided not to deface the correspondence sigil since it didn’t seem to affect me anymore and I also allowed the transport of one of the coffins to the tomb-colonies. Making me investigate a story and then come to the conclusion that it’s not something to get worked up over was incredibly anticlimactic.
EDIT: If the Vicomte is a vampire and hails from the High Wilderness, does that make him a star vampire?
edited by NNNnobody on 1/21/2021
Ah this story was really good. I especially admired it’s style, it’s language. It seemed like top-tier distillation of all the tendencies of Fallen London’s prose. Witty wordplays that sometimes made me chuckle, sometimes made me sigh, sometimes made me wonder about things, but always left me with admiration of clever craftsmanship.
I’m also fascinated with the idea of "places as characters", and that was exactly what the four (Château included) Vicomte’s properties were to me, interesting characters. It was such a cool experience to get more intimately familiar with the inner life of the Observatory (not sure if there are other ways in the game, haven’t been there yet). Rattus Faber are among my favourite denizens of the Neath and interacting with their home was awesome as well. Each place had it’s own psychology, it’s own will, desire, passion, drive, fear.
I also loved the creative use of the deck mechanic. I mean, yeah, it’s pretty low stakes and relatively linear deep down, but the appearance is what matters, the form is the message. I see some people were frustrated with the amount of actions it might take, I perhaps didn’t feel any of that because I consumed this story in smaller bites (hehe) rather than in a single sitting. The cards didn’t manage to repeat themselves much before I was able to move on, and reading them was a delight so I didn’t mind, I actually postponed the advancement a bit because I felt there were some nooks I haven’t explored (read) yet.
Personally I wouldn’t straight up equate one with the other. Himself and his story strongly references vampirism, but he is to me another creature entirely. There’s quite a few metaphors used throughout, though all tied with a blood-sucking theme, but is a tick a vampire? To equate is to reduce, but to reference - is to simply present a facet of a more complex thing. A familiar way through which one might grasp something alien, so alien in fact that language breaks down trying to account for it. Vicomte’s appearance is a matter of "perception", if you love vampires, then a vampire he shall be.
I mean is he even a singular "being", given that his nature is a matter of "perception", and that he is invoked through a sigil woven into (various different) deeds. Was the Vicomte I met in each of the properties even the same thing? What makes one an individual?
Someone mentioned sentience… to me it is also an intriguing question. What constitutes sentience? How sentient it is if it is "written into" a property deed? If it’s essence is derived from someone else’s passions?
What even it means to suck a passion? How does it feel? From the descriptions it doesn’t even feel like I noticed. What effect does it have? Somewhere in the subconscious? Is it a little like losing a soul (the effects of which turn out to be pretty subtle in the Neath). What does it mean to both invoke the passion and take a bite of it? The Vicomte’s words: don’t we all survive on a diet of love? Aren’t we all, to some degree, vampires?
All those delightful ambiguities. I love ambiguities. That is my passion :)
Halfway through the story so far and it’s quite fun. I have to say though, I almost fainted - only a small exaggeration - when I changed Lodgings to the new Chateau to advance the story and my 5-card hand changed to a 3-card one - and my two Mood cards disappeared… after managing to keep them for months and months… Had to immediately change back to 5-card Lodgings to check they were still there but that was an unpleasant minute for sure! :)
I’d vastly prefer this lodging for flavor, but the card number thing does hurt. I might change for flavor for four, but three…
This metaphor actually is in the story - Penstock describes the Vicomte as a tick and the attention of Vicomte you feel during the exploration of his estates is likened to a tick as well.
This metaphor actually is in the story - Penstock describes the Vicomte as a tick and the attention of Vicomte you feel during the exploration of his estates is likened to a tick as well.[/quote]
Then I wasn’t just imagining it! Thanks.
How do you progress in the story? I am in the part where I have to investigate the three lodgings for familiarity, but my familiarity is 0 and I don’t know of a reliable way to increase it.
I admit I didn’t read all three pages of this thread, but this post is the only thing I’ve seen that comes close to having the same understanding I reached (correctly or incorrectly) about the Vicomte:
The way I understood it at the end, was that he was a sort of manifestation (as a pawn, I assume willingly) of the parasitic nature of the Bazaar and its own need to feed on love and passions; enabled by Penstock and his (willing or unwilling?) devotion to the Bazaar; that each property deed containing the sigil created a mouth or a sucking blood vessel in the Bazaar’s bizarre circulatory system, allowing it to feed off the unwitting inhabitants of each property, to their ultimate detriment.
It is only small parasites that feed off their hosts unnoticed, with the host surviving and perhaps continuing to thrive. The Bazaar is a LARGE parasite. What does this mean for London? Nothing good. I popped the copy on my deed but declined to deface the sigil on the Bazaar itself, partly through (perhaps misguided) sympathy for good old Penstock, and partly because I hadn’t fully grasped yet what he told me. If I had the chance again, I’d do my best to make sure the practice stopped.
edited by Azora Perlino on 1/27/2021
If I recall correctly, you have to turn cards, choosing carefully which to play to increase familiarity and avoid attracting too much attention. The mechanic is similar to a heist.
edited by Azora Perlino on 1/27/2021
Month late, but got around to playing this one and wow, I should not have slept on it as long as I did. Another amazing Chandler Groover to the list. I can see there was a lot of care put into the writing to make it witty and/or evocative, but there was also evidently a lot of care put into the mechanics of the story. Just like Paisley, it presents a very interesting story in a very interesting way through the mechanics of Fallen London.
I also really liked that it rewards New Economy items like bones and nightsoil, and that it incorporates new characters like the Author of Gothic Tales.
If I have one more comment. I find it quite interesting that this story seems made with a late-game player in mind, considering how it gives bones, nightsoil and the Vicomte explicitly likes you so much because you are at the top of London.
So I’m playing this right now (loving it by the way), and I just noticed something. To click on the next storylet to progress there is the usual little parade of qualities that are required to proceed. One of them says ‘Unlocked when A Person of Some Importance is: A Paramount Presence.’ So my PP status is recognized and I’m getting slightly different content because of it? If so, that is really really cool, more of this sort of thing, please! I love it when old stuff you have done gets recognized in stories. It hardly ever used to happen, now it seems quite common. This is a trend I approve of wholeheartedly.
Or does it mean if I wasn’t a PP I wouldn’t be able to progress? Nah, they wouldn’t do that would they, surely?