I read people’s echos for the dark choice because I was so terribly curious. The lore/story you get from it is interesting, but very cryptic. There’s a good bit of it too. If you’re more interested in the lore than anything else, I’d suggest taking the dark path. You’ll lose your bat, but you’ll get to experience a good chunk of extra lore insight.
No, I did not Seek, but I felt refreshingly good being stripped of batling and other things and exposed to disturbing visions. One day I’ll do.
[quote=Navigator]
I read people’s echos for the dark choice because I was so terribly curious. The lore/story you get from it is interesting, but very cryptic. There’s a good bit of it too. If you’re more interested in the lore than anything else, I’d suggest taking the dark path. You’ll lose your bat, but you’ll get to experience a good chunk of extra lore insight.[/quote]
Yeah, did it and it was worth it! At least now I understand why people discuss Prester there.
edited by curtistruffle on 5/4/2018
This has been a really good story. And while I’m usually reckless in pursuit of new knowledge… I’m having a little trouble justifying a sacrifice of my new bat.
Guess I’ve become more fond of bats than I’d realized.
I’m surprised I didn’t take a Nightmares hit after all that.
I love my flappy, enormous son and my new friend duo at the Department. A+
That was so unexpectedly incredible. I’m going to remember this story for a very, very long time.
I’m a bit sad I lost the Big Bat Buddy, but… oh, the writing was so very very worth it. Totally in character for Gul too, so that’s something. I also really enjoyed the variety of branching choices that helped to establish character motives. Having it acknowledged that Gul left the hunters to die out of sheer caprice was a lovely bonus (though it’s more that they felt the two of them deserved a beautiful apotheosis, and that this was one). An earlier version of Gul would probably have helped them both escape, and kept the bat, but they’ve grown very strange since they returned from the Chapel of Lights. ^_~
[li]
Hi, does anyone know if there’s a big difference between capture the rodent and eradicate the goat in the early storylet A Rat Versus a Goat? I know it probably doesn’t matter much, but I just want to be sure.
This was most excellent. When it started I was all “oh, a story about the Department, that’s nice” and found the writing good enough that I’d be pleased if the story dealt with the eradicators and their quirkiness alone… and then it took a sudden sharp turn into some deep lore and eldritch things. The writing was excellent throughout and there was a decent amount of it (it’d be far too easy to just make us grind the same one or two actions during the exploration but I got through it without an real repetition), I loved the attention to detail where scenes evolved with time and there were occasional bits of hidden writing that were slightly off the beaten path. Mechanically I greatly enjoyed the ability to spend actions to get the results I wanted during the home stretch, I know some people complain about having to spend a lot of actions in ESes but nowadays I have very little actual content to explore and just burn my candles on whatever so I’m more than happy to use them up to shape a story. I would rather not face the choice between a unique item and lore every time but this hasn’t been the case so far so I’m not complaining and I absolutely do not regret my choice (of lore). Oh, and the finishing touch of letting me decide on my motivation was just perfect, even if I’m sure someone will find it doesn’t cover their particular angle.
Overall this was a blast and absolutely worth my subscription.
Well, wow. I initially subscribed mostly for the extra candle, and the majority of ESes I’ve played (I think 13 in total?) have been rather forgetful for me. This started out promising to be like that again - but then there was more, and more, and more, until I burnt through easily 60-80 actions on the story alone (and without any part feeling like filler!), and I left thoroughly impressed and highly satisfied.
I think one problem many ESes have is that they struggle to make us care for the characters involved. When all you have is a couple hundred words at best over a few snippets, it’s hard - and if it doesn’t just click in that time, the player (or at least me, specifically, I don’t know about others) ends up playing a large portion of the story in a mostly detached way. The Attendants was a major culprit in this, as an extreme example - but even last month’s story about the Murgatroyd sisters is guilty: I started off not particularly caring about yet another apothecary/Murgatroyd’s branch or two bickering sisters I’d never met before, and ended with some interest in their affairs but little investment. If Probably a Coincidence had happened, destroying the apothecary and crushing both sisters, I’d have shrugged and been on my way (ignoring any disappointment in the poor story-writing had this really happened out of nowhere).
In contrast, the structure of this month’s story led me to gradually get to know the characters better and better, and despite starting out without any particular interest in the Dour Eradicator (and not even meeting the Patchwork Rat until close to halfway through), I ended up really caring about the story and their characters. In fact, the story made me care about a rat, even though I started playing it fully intending to exterminate every vemin featured: instead, I ended up saving him and getting him a job in the Department, no less.
This entire season was remarkably good, in fact: two fantastic stories and one that, while average, left me amused and satisfied.
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 5/17/2018
Did anyone else get a “Dire Appendage” when they completed the story?
It seems to be the completion marker trinket.
I’d like to add my agreement that this was an exceptionally good story. The trophy room, the sense of options, and especially the end.
I was clearly warned, heh. No companion for me, but I brought happiness to others. Or grim satisfaction, I suppose. I’ll never understand hunters.
Or why I steered away from the light. Except that secrets aren’t found in the light, are they?
Understanding, now that’s a pickle.
Less than 24h to unlock this story if you haven’t!
I don’t think so - 31 May is the last Thursday this month. So there is another week to go.
And I do think you are correct! :)
Yup. It had the wrong date on it because sometimes I can’t read. Fixed. I apologise for the stress!
Seems there’s a small error in my alarm which was true last Wednesday and this one as well, but now it’s the time for the reminder! :)
Less than 20h left to unlock this story if you haven’t!
I’m conflicted about this one.
The earlier part was pretty boring and single-tracked. In a sharp contrast to the previous story, the characters were all not interesting. I’d very much would have like an option to burn the Department down, just because of how annoying and distasteful all the officers there were.
Like others have said, I also very much disliked the casual reference to eating Drownies. That felt really out of place.
On the other hand, the trip through Prickfingers Wastes was excellent (in both writing and mechanics). And you do get a very nice Companion at the end.
So, not too bad, but most of it was not particularly excellent either.
(side note: in the scene were you bring dead rats to the Eradicator (in a room full of dead rat), who bemoans that it might finally be too many rats, did anyone else imagine this as a scene between Spacemarine9 and Alexis?)
Personal ranking of all Exceptional Stories:
Excellent:
- Lost in Reflections[/li][li]Cut with Moonlight[/li][li]Hojotoho![/li][li]The Frequently Deceased[/li][li]The Waltz that Moved the World[/li][li]Steeped in Honey[/li][li]Flint[/li][li]All Things Must End[/li][li]The Century Exhibition[/li][li]The Twelve-Fifteen From Moloch Street[/li][li]The Persona Engine[/li][li]Where You and I Must Go[/li][li]The Sinking Synod[/li][li]The Attendants
Good:
- The Murgatroyd Formula[/li][li]Lamentation Lock[/li][li]The Web of the Motherlings[/li][li]The Pentecost Predicament[/li][li]The Calendar Code[/li][li]The Rat-Catcher[/li][li]The Art of Murder[/li][li]The Chimney Pot Wars[/li][li]The Final Curtain[/li][li]The Heart, the Devil and the Zee[/li][li]Our Lady of Pyres[/li][li]The Clay Man’s Arm[/li][li]Five Minutes to Midday[/li][li]Discernment[/li][li]The Haunting at the Marsh House[/li][li]The Pursuit of Moths[/li][li]Factory of Favours
Meh:
- Trial and Error[/li][li]The Last Dog Society[/li][li]The Seven-Day Reign[/li][li]The Court of Cats
Terrible:[ul][li]The Stone Guest[/li][/ul]
After the StoryNexus URL change and the user changing their account name it took quite a bit of work to piece together the correct URL for the alternate ending, so to spare anyone else playing old EF stories the trouble:
https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/The%20Thirteenth%20Master%20of%20the%20Bazaar?fromEchoId=14000711