A pair of assistants wheel out a metal table, upon which a writhing, screaming number seven has been strapped. Its eyes roll around in its head; its many limbs pull fervently at leather restraints. “Who would like to cut it open?”
Your nights are haunted by monstrous mathematics, and the Transcendent Numericist is to blame. Her thoughts leak into the landscape; a search for proofs to her old theorems has transformed her dreams into a geography of abstract calculation. If you’re ever to sleep soundly again, you’ll need to help her across the Numeric Wilds so that she can, at last, record the shape of infinity. And whatever you do, don’t let seven catch you.
Curious about Exceptional Friendship? You can now play the Exceptional Story Reunion for free, as a taster! Look for ‘An Exceptional Story: Reunion’ anywhere in London. You’ll unlock it when you’ve achieved level 5 in each of the four Making Your Name storylines.
All Exceptional Friends receive:
A new Exceptional Story every month
Memories of a Tale from each story to spend on exclusive companions and items
A second candle (up to 40 actions at once)
An expanded opportunity deck: ten cards instead of six
Four additional outfit slots
The ability to run an additional concurrent plot, once Agents are unlocked
Access to the House of Chimes including monthly gameplay perks
Enhanced Exceptional Friends receive all of the above, plus:
A past story, or two resets of stories they’ve played from a monthly menu
Honestly, loved this one. The Numeric lands were wonderful, the building friendship/relationship with the mathematician was very sweet and the special mechanic was great fun (does anyone have the text for the wrong paths in the cave?)
Once again, it’s always the Exceptional stories that make me wish that the House of Chimes covered spouse options. I feel way more connected to the Transcendent Numericist or (odd memory) the Morbid Archaeologist from Exile’s Chalice than I tend to to for the Feast of the Rose companions and the exceptional stories are dotted with all these individuals who the PC goes on special life affirming adventures with (though often not on this level).
I quite sure I’m more than halfway through the story.
I felt like someone had access to a list of every thing I’ve read for the past two years, flipped through it at random for five minutes, put the list away, and said, “I don’t need to read any further. I’ve got just the thing.”
First: Some absolute classics of dream there. Of course I’d have to pass through my childhood bedroom to get from the test I hadn’t studied for to the train station but nothing works right! Why wouldn’t I?
Second: We have a canon human binary trans character here! She’s taking her hormone-rubbery therapy sublingually and facing the unexpected challenge of life being worth living for the first time now that she’s doing it as a woman, and I love her and want to be her friend!
Third: I enjoyed the unique mechanics. Naturally, I had to have a table of primes open in another tab. Enjoyed the mathematical imagery in general, though it’s not my field.
Finally: Loved the writing! Both the contents and, at points, the shape - love to see FL’s writers having fun with the physical format of text so much lately!
Oh! I was doing Eratosthenes’s sieve and only after reading this comment did I realize — the story itself tries to help you here.
You get a hint if you inspect the relevant quality. Which I saw, recognized, then completely ignored, forgot, and proceeded to insist on working it all out from scratch in my head.
I have chosen all the "prime"s before get on with the “non-prime” one and the “prime” path’s text are same for each one in the cave. You can see it here
And I also wish we could get more tie-in items after finishing "ES"es or in Mr Chimes’ Lost & Found ! (I think Mr Chimes has not updated its wares for quite a while!)
Last update was a couple of years back, I think. I’d certainly be happy to see another one. If the Transcendent Numericist were to appear again, I would not be cross about it.
I wrote that original comment before playing the story, just a guess from looking at the art.
But thanks for the pointer, I’d never heard of Cantor before. (I don’t really know many mathematicians, being a null at math )
I was surprised about the Seven’s particular viciousness. And my character not even a Seeker! (I wonder, did Seekers have any special options throughout this story?)
I really enjoyed the story and the ending in particular and was so glad that my patience in waiting with the Numericist was rewarded. It’s cool that my character got to make what feels like a true life-long friend during an ES. Really hope she turns up again as an acquaintance somewhere!
This was definitely the most fun I’ve had in game! The mathemetician was a very interesting character and the setting provided some seriously trippy visuals. I keep wondering what happened to that poor number 7, though.
One of the best stories I experienced in games generally! I liked the level of interaction and the unique mechanics for the skill checks. The storyline was amazing, very creative and imaginative - I wish we had more content like this in our entertainment in general.
Bravo to the author and the teams implementing this.
god this story is so good it made me think the other exceptional stories would be of the same quality… Also, being a trans woman who’s friends with a lot of trans women… the ending and big choice is so Painfully Real that I’m not surprised the author is one of us
This story was an absolute delight and I enjoyed every moment of it. Congratulations to the writer, Heather Flowers (who also wrote The Mirror Heist) for creating such a superb tale.
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