Preface: I know I have a habit of starting my questions with statements.
So I know little amount about the North, even if it is quite vague, but I’m more than a little curious about the East. Despite the lore flying around about the North, involving the High Wilderness where the Judgements are, the Avid Horizon leads there, Seekers are drawn there etc. there seems to be very little lore surrounding exactly WHAT lies in the East. This, naturally, got me curious about what is in the East, and how to get there. I’ve assumed that the High Wilderness is in the North, at this point, due to Frostfound and stuff, which naturally begs the question of what is Easterly. So to get there, naturally, I followed the quest of The Name Which Burns, but… I have a problem. How in the hell am I meant to go south and SURVIVE? I know that zailing south sets the Crew and Hull both to zero.
So how exactly do I survive that? In a state in which literally everything to kill me, and one unit of speed, it seems like a short route to death, let alone how I’d actually then get to Frostfound safely. Hence, the real question here: how on earth am I meant to survive it? Does anyone have any advice?
And for the record, I’d really like to discover things about the East and the North to myself, so if anyone could, rather than actually telling me how things work, suggest quests/options which would give me more… information. I find the piecing together of the lore to be at least half of the fun of it.
Zailing South only kills you if you fail a rather difficult Veils check. Succeeding sets your Crew and Hull both to 1, allowing you to limp back to London.
Be warned that a quirk of the game engine may mean that the damage from zailing up the river may not quite finish before the storylet appears, so wait a few seconds before you attempt it. There has been the occasional captain who has had their hull set to 1, only for the last tick of damage to pile on and instantly kill them.[li]
EDIT: As for actually getting back to London, generally you just need to plan your route well. Don’t go near the Crying Heights, for instance. Turn off your lights to help avoid detection (having a high Veils will help here, too, not just to pass the check). Using Full Power cannot outright destroy your ship, as long as you can pass the Hearts check, so it can be part of a desperate escape from a stray angler crab that’s noticed you. And don’t make the last leg of the trip into the London docks from the south, or you’ll likely get cornered by the Auroral Megalops – come from (naturally) the east to avoid them. edited by Jeremy Avalon on 2/24/2016
[quote=Jeremy Avalon]Zailing South only kills you if you fail a rather difficult Veils check. Succeeding sets your Crew and Hull both to 1, allowing you to limp back to London.
Be warned that a quirk of the game engine may mean that the damage from zailing up the river may not quite finish before the storylet appears, so wait a few seconds before you attempt it. There has been the occasional captain who has had their hull set to 1, only for the last tick of damage to pile on and instantly kill them.[li]
EDIT: As for actually getting back to London, generally you just need to plan your route well. Don’t go near the Crying Heights, for instance. Turn off your lights to help avoid detection (having a high Veils will help here, too, not just to pass the check). Using Full Power cannot outright destroy your ship, as long as you can pass the Hearts check, so it can be part of a desperate escape from a stray angler crab that’s noticed you. And don’t make the last leg of the trip into the London docks from the south, or you’ll likely get cornered by the Auroral Megalops – come from (naturally) the east to avoid them. edited by Jeremy Avalon on 2/24/2016[/quote]Alright, that’s good to know indeed. I guess I’ll need to grind my Veils up a lot, in that case. I suppose this will have to be left for quite late in the game then, my stats are only in the mid fifties, with the exception of my 88 Iron. I’ve gotten Stigma of the West since then, and was suitably impressed by the story I got there, so I’m looking forward to the South at this point. At least it’ll give me a target to aim towards (I’ll file it in the same spot as Commission Dawn’s Law for Aestival ;p). Thanks for your advice![/li]
Tips for surviving the South
Be very careful and don’t hit the dock on the way in to port until you have repaired at least some of your hull.
It depends on your map but if you have the Fathomking nearby having a Live Specimen and some scintillack onboard can be very useful. As long as you don’t encounter a Lorn Fluke getting there :)
Possibly having we are clay if you are in one of the ships that don’t need too many crew.
You can also get a cheap crew member from Demeaux Island but crew replacement really does depend on which places are between you and London and you might be better off just heading straight home, carefully avoiding any land, beasties or other hazards…
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Edit to add - I think you need a full hull before even attempting going that way (at least trying with even minimal damage in the past has killed me) edited by reveurciel on 2/24/2016
Zailing South is also a good time to do some savescumming, if you are so inclined. If you’re on Merciful Mode reloading works as usual, but if you’re on Unforgiving mode you can also exit to the main menu immediately on failing the check or death - if you haven’t clicked on the option to go to the passing on legacies screen, reloading will start you from when you were last safely in port.
Also I don’t believe it’s ever clarified much, so as a Cryptic Clue I’ll say that you may also know the High Wilderness as a sea more sunless. edited by Optimatum on 2/24/2016
[quote=Optimatum]Zailing South is also a good time to do some savescumming, if you are so inclined. If you’re on Merciful Mode reloading works as usual, but if you’re on Unforgiving mode you can also exit to the main menu immediately on failing the check or death - if you haven’t clicked on the option to go to the passing on legacies screen, reloading will start you from when you were last safely in port.
Also I don’t believe it’s ever clarified much, so as a Cryptic Clue I’ll say that you may also know the High Wilderness as a sea more sunless. edited by Optimatum on 2/24/2016[/quote] Oh, now that just confuses me further, since I was under the impression that the ‘sea more sunless’ referred to the Sundered Sea of Lacre, beneath the Bazaar and accessible by Penstock’s Wicket Gate, whilst the High Wilderness referred to, well, ‘space’, the Judgements referring to stars (most notably the sun). So does that mean that one or both of my understandings is wrong? Or does it imply some connection between the Wicket and the Avid Horizon? Or is there a vital piece of the puzzle that I’m not understanding? More food for thought, I suppose. edited by Arensen on 2/25/2016
[quote=Arensen][quote=Optimatum]Zailing South is also a good time to do some savescumming, if you are so inclined. If you’re on Merciful Mode reloading works as usual, but if you’re on Unforgiving mode you can also exit to the main menu immediately on failing the check or death - if you haven’t clicked on the option to go to the passing on legacies screen, reloading will start you from when you were last safely in port.
Also I don’t believe it’s ever clarified much, so as a Cryptic Clue I’ll say that you may also know the High Wilderness as a sea more sunless. edited by Optimatum on 2/24/2016[/quote] Oh, now that just confuses me further, since I was under the impression that the ‘sea more sunless’ referred to (Spoiler). So does that mean that one or both of my understandings is wrong? Or does it imply some connection between the Wicket and the Avid Horizon? Or is there a vital piece of the puzzle that I’m not understanding? More food for thought, I suppose. edited by Arensen on 2/25/2016[/quote]
[spoiler] There’s the Zee, then there’s the Sundered Sea under the Bazaar, and then there’s the High Wilderness, which is also referred to as a sea more sunless. There’s also something to the East, but I won’t spoil it.
Notably, it appears there are 5 seas, the surface sea, the zee, the sundered sea, the High Wilderness and what lies East. This gives me he feeling that there may be two more important seas out there. (Axile’s sea, also?), but I digress.[/spoiler]