May’s Exceptional Story: The Rat-Catcher

[color=#cc0099]Delicious friends, the Exceptional Story for May is here!

Team up with a Department of Menace Eradicator to find her missing partner! Collect bounties, interrogate rodents, and venture into the Prickfinger Wastes. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your pistol closest still.

The Rat-Catcher is the third and final story in the Season of Adorations, and was written by Chandler Groover. This season, experience three stories that delve into love of all kinds from friendship to worship. You can begin each from the Season of Adorations card.

Editing, design and QA: James Chew, Chris Gardiner and Mary Goodden.

Art by Tobias Cook.

EXCEPTIONAL FRIENDSHIP

In addition to a new, substantial, stand-alone story every month, Exceptional Friends enjoy:

[ul][li]Access to the House of Chimes: an exclusive private member’s club on the Stolen River, packed with content[/li][li]An expanded opportunity deck: of ten cards instead of six![/li][li]A second candle: Twice the actions! 40 at once![/li][/ul]Finishing all three stories in the Season of Adorations will make you eligible for an additional opportunity, to follow.

If you want to keep an Exceptional Story beyond the month it’s for, you must complete the related storylet in the current Season’s card throughout London. This will save it for you to return to another time.[/color]
edited by Absintheuse on 4/26/2018

My goodness this one swerves into some unexpected places - the ramifications of this one could be huge. I’m gonna need to go and grab my tinfoil hat.

My alt The Courier took the path best not taken, for all you curious people out there. It’s A Lot.

Big fan of this one, for the rewards, the absolutely wild story and that terrifying artwork. If I wasn’t at work I’d wax lyrical about it, but I’ll just say it’s my favourite ES in a long while. A great way to round out the season!

Edit: I can’t make urls work. Ah well.
edited by Barse on 4/26/2018

Reminder to add links outside spoiler tags! :)

[quote=Barse]My goodness this one swerves into some unexpected places - the ramifications of this one could be huge. I’m gonna need to go and grab my tinfoil hat.
Big fan of this one, for the rewards, the absolutely wild story and that terrifying artwork. Nice way to round out the season!
edited by Barse on 4/26/2018[/quote]
You mean there’s an option related to Looking? Any lovely companions? Any options if one is already a Rat-Catcher or Monster-Slayer?

I have to say I love this story, definitely one of the best to come out!

(And the bad decision isn’t related to seeking, but costs the unique (and great) companion you can get)

Does anyone know if you get to keep the following?

The baby Wings of Thunder Bat you get in the beast

Keeping this spoiler free as possible: It depends.
edited by Brogues on 4/26/2018

I haven’t started this ES yet, but…

…Did rat-sending just get its own ES?

[quote=Robin Alexander]I will admit that I hated this.

I might have been more inclined to give it a fairer chance, had it not been so filled with bugs and misleading statements, such as &quotthis will increase x&quot (it didn’t, as it has a low cap) and the fact that journal entries would NOT work on my browser (and with the retired app this is impossible to play on mobile). I also had no interest in rats or the department or any of the subject matter.

I honestly can’t wait to just finish this thing, but I think I’ll claim my free season reward (as this is apparently the last) and just quit &quotFallen London&quot for a long while. I’ve not really been playing these past months anyway, and I have a lot of issues with the game that just aren’t getting addressed, but to pay money for a game that’s so bugged I can’t recall entries and for many that’s a major feature? Yeah, I’m not feeling it.

The writing was good. The mechanics look fun.

It’s just not for me and I think I’m done.[/quote]

Sounds like the game is the same game it’s always been, but you’re experiencing some serious burnout from playing too intensely. Not surprising considering you took a character all the way through Seeking and everything.

I’m almost done… I must know something first, though.

In the ten-thousand-toothed-grove or whatever it’s called, what happens if you fly further into the darkness? I feel like this is important information.

Edit: Oh, uh, whoops. It’s been posted already. M’bad.
edited by ReusedNPC on 4/26/2018

[quote=Barse]My goodness this one swerves into some unexpected places - the ramifications of this one could be huge. I’m gonna need to go and grab my tinfoil hat.

The Courier took the path best not taken, for all you curious people out there. It’s A Lot.

Big fan of this one, for the rewards, the absolutely wild story and that terrifying artwork. If I wasn’t at work I’d wax lyrical about it, but I’ll just say it’s my favourite ES in a long while. A great way to round out the season!

Edit: I know links in spoiler tags are a pain - right clicking on the link still works, though.
edited by Barse on 4/26/2018[/quote]

I think there’s also a defect in the link in your spoiler tag, Barse. It shouldn’t have [/url at the end. It works if that part is removed.

An important note for Paramount Presences: flying deeper in comes with stat losses.

[quote=Brogues]Does anyone know if you get to keep the following?

Keeping this spoiler free as possible: It depends.[/quote]

It depends. You have an option to keep it, or another option (albeit a bad one) that warns you that doing it will cost you the bat. I am still deciding which I should pick.

An excellent follow-up from last month’s story.

I admit that I wasn’t much a fan of the initial premise, and didn’t care much for the Dour Eradicator. And the first half of the story wasn’t really that gripping for me personally, but that really changed when I met the Patchwork Rat. I was rather fond of that little guy, and everything that followed within the Prickfinger Wastes was great. Especially getting a wings-of-thunder batling apparently large enough to ride on. I’m kind of sad it didn’t count as a transport XD. I am also intrigued about just what the ten-thousand teeth beast was.
I was also pleasantly surprised at how long the story felt. Something that I am always a fan of.

After going deeper in the darkness myself, there seems to be a few revelations that are revealed if you’re willing to give up your batling and a level from all of your stats:

[spoiler] The Wings-of-Thunderbat apparently does come from the Elder Continent, and not be posing as a certain Master. More remains to be seen.

&quotThese aren’t your eyes. These aren’t your kin…This is where you belong. This is where you should rest…Your hands and tongue and nose and ears aren’t yours.&quot The text implies that the player is a Snuffer all along, having stolen one’s face.

What is this place? It seems that there is a connection with the depths of the Prickfinger Wastes and the Elder Continent, maybe even the Garden itself. The bats, which are supposedly native to the Elder Continent, are here en masse, the people here clearly serve the Presbyterate, and know of the beast with ten-thousand teeth, whatever it is. I haven’t played Flint so I don’t understand things like the Seventh Butler or the specifics about not killing flying things, but it is definitely interesting. I do feel bad for my batling though/

http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Den%20Blackwell?fromEchoId=14000711

[/spoiler]
edited by The Curious Watcher on 4/26/2018
edited by The Curious Watcher on 4/26/2018

Got PP this month and Poet Laureate. Already had Courier’s Footprint. Decided to cancel ES subscription since this is the last story of the set. Not much to do now until the next event etc.

But…[spoiler]if I knew I was going to get a cool companion like the batling from stories to come, I might just keep the subscription going. Just a thought. lol!

Very cool companion that you acquire in a pretty cool way. Nice text when you get it, too.[/spoiler]

I enjoyed this one!
edited by Tay1or on 4/26/2018
edited by Tay1or on 4/26/2018

I really enjoyed this.

[spoiler]Having had Rat-Catcher as my profession for quite a number of months now, this story just felt so appropriate for my character. I don’t know why I got so attached to the Patchwork Rat after hearing his story in the interrogation room, but saving him just felt like the only option I could pick at that point. I was a little disappointed when I didn’t get to keep him as a companion, but I’m very satisfied with the ending I got for him, having him join forces with the Dour Eradicator at the end. I do love when I get to earn a happy ending. And I was very happy with the companion that I did get.

I wonder if the pelgin stains on my fingers are permanent.[/spoiler]

I’m amused by the encounter with the Familiar Deviless in the Wastes. Yet another Intimate of Devils, on their way to soullessness.

In the early hunts, the Dour Eradicator doesn’t seem to be claiming her share of the bounties. I’m getting the whole amount each time.

I really enjoyed this one! There was quite a lot of choice, and it really felt like I had control over how the story went. And the story spiraled into something really deep and interesting from what was supposed to be a simple contract.

I take it that the rat always appears on the last contract? My curiosity burns for the whole of the &quotgo deeper into the darkness&quot route though, rewards and effects included.

And yeah, the Dour Eradicator never actually took her share of the bounties.
It seems to me that this should be one of the ones with long-term consequences, like All Things Must End or Hojotoho. Just a little option available in the Department of Menace Eradication. Seriously, I wanna hunt with these guys.

I enjoyed the story very much, myself. But there is one thing that puzzled and frustrated me:

So what did become of the Dire Eradicator? I really wanted to find her and see what happened as a result of that.

digestion, presumably.