Why, exactly? Why would you expect specifically 12? Genuine question
This was fun! Very fun, even! Hard, too, which is excellent-couldnāt even do the SA+zeefaring card with any kind of success despite having both of those at a maximum. I also obviously enjoyed the writing, but that is to be expected, although I most confuss I still donāt really know about the flukes-however, I could definitely just be dumb. 7.5/10
Having done my story run, Iāll come back to this when Iāve got 20 actions stocked up, purely for the exploits. The rewards are otherwise not that good.
But itās nice we got a part 2 to this!
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No I meant I didnāt expect 12. I expected 8 for obvious reasons or 15 because thatās the target number for piracy targets
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Oh! Alright, then, excuse me.
Quelling leads Conquest comfortably by 4:1.
Meaning, out of 5 players, 4 want to talk to the Fluke rather than shoot it.
This is why I like Fallen London.
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Absolutely no problem m8 :D
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If we talk to it enough we might get a Vanity Quality! Imagine! A VANITY QUALITY! OR LORE!!! Why would anyone miss the chance to get a vanity quality and/or lore?
I took the Abyssal Future/Road destiny so calming the Fluke down actually ties in nicely with my character, Iām pretty pleased about that.
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Wait, how can you tell? Is there a counter?
I want everyone to know that Iām not calming the Fluke down out of any compassion towards the Fluke, but out of spite against the Admiralty after my paranoia about being framed to do itās dirty work under false premises has, based on all available evidence, been completely vindicated.
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Honestly, the Fluke is being incredibly civil all things considered. It blew up the Breadbasket and is yelling about trespassers in a disruptively eldritch way, but it doesnāt seem to be intentionally attacking us. Talking to it reveals that itās more upset than wrathful - if you apologize to it, it calms down just a little bit and withdraws instead of nuking your ship.
Humans are just tiny and frail, much like if you went out to yell at an anthill and also your words were made of fire or whatever. If it was actually attacking London instead of ranting on our doorstep, weād be in much bigger trouble.
(And again, weāre the ones in the wrong here! It was just minding its own business until we dropped a ton of explosives on it! I think most people would want to apologize for that.)
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There are two hidden world qualities - one is incremented by attacking the Fluke, the other by talking to it.
Wait how do you talk to it??
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When you confront it, if you have both sa and SoTC at a 5, you have an option to talk(sing? Both?) to it.
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Get your Shapeling Arts and A Scholar of the Correspondence up to 5, and when you hunt it normally to 12 a second option under āRepel the Lorn-Fluke with a show of forceā appears.
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Snob alert
I like how, much like in the real world, brokering peace and calming people down is the option that requires more skill.
I am very sorry to early-midgame players who hauled light amounts of explosives and then found themselves embroiled in a fight against something they know nothing about. It must be confusing and frightening.
On the other hand it is quite realistic that, again like in the real world, the less informed and less trained people only have the option of acting in violent and probably less productive ways.
Also I second captainbloodstormās feeling that the Admiralty has once again lied to us, but I wish to point out itās not yet clear to me what they did intend to bomb at waylandās teeth. The way I understand the damage done to the Fluke is an undesired byroduct, not the main goal of hauling explosives.
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Iāve half a mind to volunteer my letter-writing services as a Correspondent to anyone who wants to talk to the Fluke, but canāt. Unfortunately, I feel like Shapeling Arts 5 is the bigger gate hereā¦
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Tbh, I donāt think itās a matter of education so much as experience. You can have no education and still be capable of being a good mediator, and you can have a Ph.D and be absolute shite at anything interpersonal. Schools donāt do a good job of teaching these things. Itās more than likely something you learn from your parents (if they were good) or that you piece together on your own from trial, error, advice, and therapy. Itās something that you can always become better at, no matter where you are!
And of course, the situation matters, too. Sometimes violence is relevant! But as it stands, weāre clearly the ones in the wrong here. There was a clear and unambiguous transgression on our part, accidental though it was. And it honestly strikes me how many people have been like āwait, you can talk to it? how? I want to do that!ā
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Good points all, I realise āinformedā and ātrainedā suggest the formal kind of education, while informal education is definitely a part of the skill I was referring to. Heck, just look at the FL player character, they began learning the Correspondence while exploring the Forgotten Quarter and ended up teaching it at the University without having ever gotten an academic degree. And donāt even get me started on how useless the University is for anything related to the Shapeling Arts, aka the lower classes represented by the Rubbery and the Starved.
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