Despite trying to scour the wikis I know of for more information about who wrote it, I would like to express my highest compliments to whoever conceived and wrote the storylet about the lost, locked box. I didn’t play it for the longest time, mainly because getting addicted to Fallen London made it difficult for me to play Sunless Sea as much as I’d like - by the time I’m back from Irem having conducted all necessary business throughout the round trip, I’m already wasting opportunity cards if not turns.
That said, I finally encountered a certain Isle on my current map and followed upon some intelligence gathered out to the Northeast.
Each of the three major chapters of that quest, ending where it began in London, were absolutely haunting, and every choice about how to proceed took me a few minutes. I opted for hard truths all the way - my captain was fairly low-level at the time, and in the honeymoon phase of her own courtship. For all of her professional dealings with intrigue, she hasn’t yet accepted what her life choices will mean for her family. Meeting who she met in London, and telling them what she did, was a bitter lesson. This is what she does. The zee is really her most constant companion.
I’m looking forward to approaching this incident differently with different captains, with different motives. Per usual, the writing is delicious and cuts to the bone - I don’t want to know how many manuscript pages were destroyed making this, but it was worth it. Thank you very much.