[quote=PSGarak]So, I’m one action into this story…
You unlocked this with Renown: Hell 50 (you needed 41).
It is addressed to a friend of the Brass Embassy
‘With great distaste, I find I must write to one such as yourself…’
It’s nice when certain aspects of your character are acknowledged. Especially that one, which has been my mantlepiece since I obtained it. Echo available at link below, although it doesn’t seem so very unique.
I’d love to see more about them myself. I’m surprised they’re mentioned now, when there hasn’t been a single word about an Archbishop in the past to my knowledge.
Does anyone know if there’s anything that lowers stats? I remember Moloch Street and while I had nothing really to lose then, my progress towards PP is something I don’t want to gamble with.
Did anyone else get the ending with high Yearnings/truth told/seduced the Deacon, where he leaves to become an intelligence agent for the Brass Embassy ? I forgot to echo it, like a silly person.
Great story. Only my third one but I think I like this even more than Written in the Glim. These two both have well-written narratives. fansinating plot and a good-balanced process. But WitG only gave me a momental pleasure of vengeance, while this one, wow, it’s been hours and my heart is still filled with warmth and delight and bittersweet. Thank you Failbetter.
<spoiler>At the middle of the story I was thinking of rank it as "10/10 for seduce the Deacon", then when I reach the end, I feel like that would be a little improper for such a good story and such a lovely character.
Usually when I decide whether I like a story or not, the priority goes to narratives > plot > characters. And I care more about whether the characters are well-built than if they’re nice people. London is a dangerous place and I’ve got quite a bunch of experience about credulity and disappointment, which I guess is one of the reasons I love the Deacon so much. He, with such bravery and sincerity and knowledge and blush when got teased, is like a drop of sunshine falling into this dark corner of earth. How can I not love him.
(By the way, though I agree that the picture looks like Jude Law in some way, I realized that when I go through the story in my head, the Deacon seems to have the face of Eddie Redmayne? Which is weird because I’m not a fan of either.)
My second-favourite part of the story is when the characters are on the train, there were many paragraphs picturing the desolate scene of the battlefield waste and the station, making me feel like that I was really on a train. Wonderful narratives. "The walls are painted an orange-gold, the colour of the sun sinking into the Adriatic." I love this sentence so much that I copied it on my notes. It’s a beautiful metaphor, also sorrowful when you realize you may never see the sun again.
I’d say this is a very movie-like story since the plot was rather "closed loop". It makes a balance between gaining information and making progress. And it has a proper pace, which may not be so notable but is essential for game experience.
Still there is a pity for me because I’m not very familiar with the Christian stuff. I didn’t realize it was some Lucifer thing until I checked this thread… And I don’t know if it’s my lack of knowledge on hell, but did human and devil once faught on the wasted battlefield? Or was it devil against devil? I choose to believe it was devil-human since the Deacon’s brother was injured, but is there any previous in-game information about such war? The question might be stupid but I hope someone could answer me…
However the typos WERE annoying. It wasn’t one or two. It was a LOT. So many extra periods , wrong order of quotation marks, unprepared webpage, and a misspelling of "condottiere" which I remember appeared during the Deacon was singing.
But well, the story was great. Though I’m usually picky about such things, this time it didn’t bother me that much. I just hope you can fix it later, or at least when it’s added to the FATE page, so other players will experience the story with more perfection.
Wow this is so unnecessarily long… Last thing! I have to confess I laughed so hard when I checked the brother’s wounds. The only reason is that it reminds me a Chinese idiom called "心花怒放", which means someone is so delighted that it feels like there is a flower blooming in his/her heart.
By the way, does anyone know if there are any difference in the end if you did not seduce the Deacon on the train? Will there still be a kiss or "we have a little time yet"? I’m curious.
</spoiler>
Actually, FB are good at fixing typos and very nice about it. I hate being thrown out of the narrative by pickable typographic nits, so I tend to take screen shots of issues as I go and send an email (or several) to Support with suggested corrections. Replies are always prompt and pleasant. After all with FL, the text is the thing! One just can’t be sure the devs will pick up on typo reports here in the thread.
I’m one of those players who tend to save up stories and do them in groups later. So I can report from experience that even very belated reports of the typo kind are happily received.
When London first descended, the Church helmed a war with Hell. London lost horribly. The Bishop of Southwark and the Regretfull Soldier are both battle veterans. There is some Fate-Locked content which will allow you to hear more about the war… and decide what may come.
I have to say I had chosen Hellfarer when I first played the Bishop content, and I had come to regret it since this war does seem pointless by now, but… the ending I got in this story makes it seem worth it now. After all, if the Deacon will be fighting in the London army, I want to be there with him.
We are still getting floored, though. I am besotted, not stupid.
"The Deacon slides into the parishioner’s side and faces you through the grille; he grins. “Found anything? I’m looking for God, but He seems to be elsewhere.” " So cheeky.
You say that, but there are strange powers at work in the Neath. A war with just humans at the helm would surely be crushed. Fortunately, ties run deeper than they did 30 years ago. Fingerkings pinning Hell on both sides; an inner cell within Hell’s ranks; whispers of a bridge to the afterlife supplying fresh recruits from Styx’s shores; the possible backing of other human civilizations (I doubt the Khanate would be willing to help, the first and third cities are mostly dead, and the second city is little more than a lost memory in Parabola, but alliances with the Elder Continent may change with Feducci’s potential marriage and the future of the Dilmun storyline). I won’t say it wouldn’t be bloody or hard, but at this point? A war may be more evenly matched, given the right circumstances with the right alliances. edited by Sir Joseph Marlen on 9/6/2018
I am afraid none of these allies sounds either reliable, or someone you want to associate with.
Hell is and has always been. Now, human ingenuity can conquer anything and everything, but the pain the previous war brought should be warning enough.
Here is the echo.[/quote]
Yeah, about that. There are many details in this story that whet my curiosity, and a few that really need a follow-up. This is the at the top of the latter list.
