March Exceptional Story: The Frequently Deceased

Fallen London
101

Wanted to join the parade of praises.
It was delightful! Good written story, didn’t want to do anything else in London at the time. Very enjoyable.
I like the fact that not all EF are earth shattering lore wise. Not everything has to involve the heart and essence of this universe. This one story, of one family, provided excellent entertainment while reviling a bit of how’s society works (Example: Exceptional Feast’s gifts for servants, a bit of the inside if a certain law firm and a club, etc.)
Very interesting mechanics - the use of the technique to send us across London keeps the EF interesting and perhaps psychologically longer.
Really appreciated the fact that the conversations was actions free. Could be quite frustrating to wait 10 minutes for each question.

One of the best EF. I noticed this is the third time I say this in the last 4 months, meaning I am very pleased with the added bonus for EF members - the EF stories.

A great thank you for the staff, for Emily Short on the adventure and the people behind the curtain for the mechanics.

102

I too have to say that this one of, if not the, best Exceptional Stories I’ve had the pleasure of playing. It was truly exceptional – I loved how meaty it felt, the multiple stages and the whole treasure hunting feel of traveling London was fantastic, and I love the inclusion of the flash lay scheme, I feel that that worked wonderfully. I also greatly appreciated the conversation costing 0 actions, that made my life so much easier, I could make sure I got all the answers I could without wasting extra actions.

And I adored those children. Those devilish little hellspawn. I chose to tell the truth in a child-friendly way and delivered the letter to the Governess at the end and I’m glad I did. I was just wondering, I lost the Grudging Respect of the Children by taking my final action, and I was just wondering if this happens if you steam the letter open? I like the thought of remaining on good terms with those little brats.(Someone compared them to a malicious version of the Baudelaire children, and I loved that comparison!)

Overall, wonderful, wonderful job. I have such high hopes for the rest of this season!
edited by KShep on 3/13/2016

103

I think that’s just general end-of-story cleanup. Their respect is preserved in the one surviving quality (recording which end you chose).

104

Has anyone come across the option with the Children where they set a “Fairy Princess” on fire? I found it by googling but I haven’t been able to think of what might be required to unlock it.

105

Hand of glory

106

Jeebus! That is not an item I expected to unlock things… Do any other items from that source unlock any branches? (Other than WD, which is available elsewhere)

107

I liked this one a lot. Good design, I was sorry for it to end.

– Mal

108

/slowpoke

Did anyone list all possible items to interact with the children? I’ve just used my Watchful Doll and got some very interesting text and information.
It also has a watchful check but since its always 100% straightforward for me I can’t check the failure text :(

I think there might be more hidden options.

The ones I’ve found for now:
*Play as criminals (Airs >50)
*Play as pirates (Airs 50<)
*Watchful Doll (Fate-locked)
*Starveling Cat
*Broken Toy
*Scarab
*Talkative Rattus Fabber
*Unearthly Fossil
*Enthralling book

1 Like
109

Also the Exquisite Toy, which fortunately didn’t suffer the fate of the scarab. (Yeah, that still rankles. Now I can’t used it to advance … never mind.)

110

I haven’t had much time to play lately, so I only re-activated my Exceptional Friendship this morning just to avoid missing this story. I barely made it; it took more actions than expected to unlock the story in the House of Chimes—I had to complete the initial conversation rather than just begin it—and I generally take my time going through the options.* By the time I parted with the Harassed Mother, I could already see the universal storylet for April’s story, a couple of minutes before noon BST.

(Good thing, too, that I didn’t assume for whatever reason that they’d go with noon UTC, which is one hour later. I’ve had little cause to hate summer time so far, but this would certainly qualify.)

  • Actually, there’s no need to be coy about this: since the New Year I’ve been carefully recording the text of Fate-locked stories for my own future reference and perusal, relying on the wiki for non-Fate-locked text. This, as anyone can imagine, makes progress rather slower.
    edited by The Duke of Waltham on 3/31/2016
111

I thought one needs to just shift the story to the House of Chimes by selecting only one option from the introduction (1 action) to save the story fot later use.
Did not realize one must complete the story at House of Chimes to save it. Is that the case?

112

Indeed. This is the mechanism used to ensure this story is available only to Exceptional Friends

The starter storylet is visible to all players. But only Exceptional Friends can enter the House of Chimes to continue the story there. So you need to make at least some progress in the House of Chimes part of the story in order to activate it.

113

[quote=dov]Indeed. This is the mechanism used to ensure this story is available only to Exceptional Friends

The starter storylet is visible to all players. But only Exceptional Friends can enter the House of Chimes to continue the story there. So you need to make at least some progress in the House of Chimes part of the story in order to activate it.[/quote]

Just to clarify - shifting the story to HoC is not enough? I also need to continue the story to some extent there to save it?
How far? Until it spreads out from the House?

114

No, shifting the story to the HoC is not enough - this option is available to all players, not only to Exceptional Friends.

You need to at least start the HoC part of the story. This is different each month. Sometimes a single action is enough. Sometimes you need to go through a whole conversation there. The game usually tells you, though (at some point it might tell you that you can complete the story at your own pace from now on or something similar).

edited by dov on 3/31/2016

115

[quote=dov]No, shifting the story to the HoC is not enough - this option is available to all players, not only to Exceptional Friends.

You need to at least start the HoC part of the story. This is different each month. Sometimes a single action is enough. Sometimes you need to go through a whole conversation there. The game usually tells you, though (at some point it might tell you that you can complete the story at your own pace from now on or something similar).

[/quote]

Huh. Thank you. I now see the instructions at the forum in a different light.
You probably saved a future EF story of mine.

116

Which exceptional story one may begin playing is determined by the value of the quality &quotAn Episode for Exceptional Friends&quot, so at some point there has to be an action result that will change this quality, and that will ordinarily appear as the meta-message &quotYou have unlocked [month]'s Exceptional Story! You may play it at your leisure.&quot At that point one should also acquire another quality that will allow one to continue playing this particular story in the future, irrespective of any others, leaving &quotAn Episode for Exceptional Friends&quot free to be used again for the unlocking of next month’s story.
edited by The Duke of Waltham on 3/31/2016

117

It took me a while to notice that it’s not London Bridge that is falling down… Nice detail, there.

I thought that was addressed: &quottotal discretion and loyalty&quot…

Well, the quality goes up to 5, and only the final branch where they confide in you takes it up to 10; until then, though, you can play the other branches as many times as you want, provided that you unlock Leisure of Children each time first.

It sounds oddly Japanese, doesn’t it? It’s probably Greek, though; κατάβασις (katabasis) means &quotdescent&quot, so katabatist could be someone who descends, perhaps in caves or the underworld. That said, I’ve never seen the word before, and I’m not entirely sure it exists. Morphologically (to my Modern-Greek ears, at least), καταβάτης (katabates) would make more sense, and could be the opposite of αναβάτης (anabates, &quotclimber&quot, &quotrider&quot) and a cognate of ορειβάτης (oreibates, &quotmountain-climber&quot). In this sense, katabatist sounds more like a profession than anything, perhaps deliberately so.

[quote=Danko]Did anyone list all possible items to interact with the children? I’ve just used my Watchful Doll and got some very interesting text and information.
It also has a watchful check but since its always 100% straightforward for me I can’t check the failure text :([/quote]
I had no Watchful Doll or Exquisite Toy (or Hand of Glory!), but the rest of the options were as you list them. I was amused with the prisoners branch, considering that I had to purchase the manacles and leg irons for the first time since coming to London. Their insignificant cost now makes for a huge contrast with the apparent value of the (even less) money I received when I sold them after my escape.

On the matter of failures, I’ve done my best to record them, but as with every Exceptional Story some of them were unreachable for me. I had none with the children; for others, my record of this story begins here. At the moment I’m actively searching for those I’ve missed, to fill in the gaps. I’ve also neglected to note down the precise text and requirements of the branch &quotA Development: Did she have ambitions?&quot, so if anyone has it, a PM would be most welcome.

EDIT: This is interesting… I avoided obstacles in the Flash Lay so I didn’t see it, but it appears to have been a card custom-made for the Exceptional Story.
edited by The Duke of Waltham on 4/6/2016

118

[color=#cc0066]The Frequently Deceased is now available for Fate![/color]

119

It might be a little late but I’d say I thoroughly enjoy this story. Good writing scented with 19th British flavour, hidden in all the different mechanics. That Governess slightly reminds me of Becky in Vanity Fair; I dislike her, but I can’t dislike her. And so do those brutal and innocent children.

BTW, anyone noted down the &quotA comforting lie&quot option at the end? Or giving the blood money to the Governess? I will very appreciate if you can PM me with any of those, thank you!
edited by Fadewalker on 12/23/2016

120

It’s irresponsible of her to utilizes the Children for her own gains, but no more or less improper than what anyone else does. These kinds of stories make it harder for me to RP a properly ruthless lady, however.