The Season of Stones: Item Trade-In

Is this only available if you completed all 3 stories? I only played HOJOTOHO! and feel like I’m missing something here.

[quote=Absintheuse][color=#cc0099]
The Season of Stones has finished. If you played The Clay Man’s Arm; The Heart, the Devil, and the Zee; and HOJOTOHO!, you will have gained an item unique to each tale. You can trade in these items to unlock a short tale suffused with lore and adorned with an alluring reward.
[/color][/quote]
Yes, it is only available if you’ve done all three.

I really enjoyed this item turn-in and hope we get more like it. Having a limited amount of actions on the dialogue tree was a nice mechanic. I took the Urchins option with Hebediah and the option to walk out with Hark (partly because they are suspicious of the Masters but mostly because I couldn’t find anyone who’d done it.)

Once thing to consider is whether the legistation will stay passed and even if it does will it be enforced and funded enough to do what its supposed to do.

Once the urchin scrapage scheme is linked to crime (that’s pretty much the only option most urchins have to get anything) there’s no way you’ll get paliament (let alone mr stones) to fund it. Even though whatever the obliguations are would keep the laws the books they’ll keep cutting the budget and passing plainly sadistic regulations until it functionally doesn’t exist. I can’t image any of these 3 masters pushing at all to keep it as intended.

The clay man hour off will come under attack once a clay man does anything even slightly scandously during their hours. The press will pay little attention to the difference between regular clay men and the unfinished (Mr Iron whites a note &quotJASPER AND FRANK REQUIRDED&quot). Soon enough they would just plain forget to enforce the law. As clay men don’t make a fuss this would come to pass without scandal.

As he Baazar hisself wants stories The masters would go along with it. Especially Mr pages who will horde all of those stories too. Since so many people will be helped by it parliament will be much more likely to keep it funded. The success here can used to get people to push for the next reforms.

On a side note, who has votes in which elections now?

Fair warning, leaving early aids the revolutionaries.

I hate aiding them, but that was the only right solution. That little get-together was most definitively a farce. It’s certainly making it a bit of a punch to the gut, especially since I already made myself miss a lot of content due to making that choice, but c’est la vie.

Good lord that was a hard choice. I went with the clayman law, but only barely. All three had merits, but I chose the clayman out of a fondness for them. I’d also like to assist rubbery folk, but sadly that was not an option.

so im at the first set of choices and i cant decide what to pick you see my character is a hardcore revolutionary sympathizer and HATES the maesters with a passion so keeping in character i want to pick what will hurt/inconvenience them the most.

but as mentioned i cant decide so i thought id ask the opinion of the folks here (keeping in mind this is the first set of choices specifically) also keep in mind that my character dosent care about improving the peoples quality of life at all.
edited by crazyroosterman on 6/1/2017

Choosing to leave helps the Revolutionaries, giving both Connected and Advancing the Liberation of Night. If you don’t really care about helping the people it seems most fitting for your character.

I just wish I could have prodded answers from the Masters for a longer period.

What I wouldn’t give to break that watch and buy a little more time.

[quote=Optimatum]Choosing to leave helps the Revolutionaries, giving both Connected and Advancing the Liberation of Night. If you don’t really care about helping the people it seems most fitting for your character.[/quote] it does? seems counter intuitive to me and i dont want to miss out on the lovely writing but as much as it pains me your completely right it is so perfectly in character for him that i simply cant do anything else.

and presumably in the future when i make enougher character ill have the power to do this again with a softer character that dosent have an unhealthy hatred towards the master and explore more of it.

[quote=SeveredJoke][quote= Saklad]Why did you do this to me‽ This was a brutally hard decision. I went with the urchin legislation, since the poor could sell their stories already and the Clay Man break was awfully limited, but still. I feel so horrible. If there was an option to pay 100 Fate and get another passed, I would. Of course, that is why there isn’t…[li]
Much as I hate to admit it, this was a spectacular conclusion. Even if I swore out loud when I realized what I’d have to do.

[ul][li]edited by Saklad5 on 6/1/2017[/quote][/li][/ul]It was a great way to finish. Another moment to reflect on a weighty matter and consider allegiances. Also loved the interaction with the Masters and ominous quality changes depending on their answers. I binned the Clay Men policy as it was rubbish.[/quote][/li]It is in the interests of the ruling class to play the disaffected off one another in order to maintain control.
edited by Anne Auclair on 6/1/2017

[quote=crazyroosterman][quote=Optimatum]Choosing to leave helps the Revolutionaries, giving both Connected and Advancing the Liberation of Night. If you don’t really care about helping the people it seems most fitting for your character.[/quote] it does? seems counter intuitive to me and i dont want to miss out on the lovely writing but as much as it pains me your completely right it is so perfectly in character for him that i simply cant do anything else.[/quote]Choosing to leave continues the plight of the poor and the needy relatively untouched. This breeds resentment. Resentment breeds anger. Anger brings violent revolution. The French learned that lesson well when the poor were trodden upon one too many times. The revolution is sustained by promising that it alone will be their salvation, no matter the cost. Should the people feel that life may be getting better, they may not support the violence and anarchy they associate with the revolutionary cause. Contentment is the enemy of progress, after all.

The Liberation of Night is advanced probably because of the building anger in the working class, which supports the revolutionaries. The revolutionaries may see your actions as an act of defiance against the Masters, bolstering your stock with them. Even if they believe the Masters could bring about positive change, to them it would still be poisoned, still at the mercy of the Masters. They could see these laws as a sword hanging over the neck of the poor: fall in line or lose all you’ve gained.

As for me, I chose to help the urchins. While allowing the poor to sell stories to the Bazaar could be the best for the most people, it runs the risk of people creating these stories for the sake of profit. An artificial love does little good to anyone, and it’s too dangerous to make heartbreak a highly profitable venture. While I support the Clay Men, the law doesn’t go far enough to protect them and Londoners would still have difficulty accepting them. While supporting the urchins could make petty theft a more profitable venture, it also helps support the Ringbreakers. I’m sure their clients would have scraps they’re willing to hand out, but to be fair, this runs the risk of clients choosing to pay exclusively in scraps…

Actually, it could just be the pessimist in me, but these choices all have their downsides. For the urchins and the poor, helping them could leave them at the mercy of the Bazaar while encouraging heartless or criminal behavior, while the Clay Men barely receive anything, while quite possibly infuriating Londoners who feel that their Parliament is supporting Clay Men over them. They each have their definite benefits, and if all goes well, change really could be coming to London, but it really makes you wonder.

[quote=Azothi][quote=crazyroosterman][quote=Optimatum]Choosing to leave helps the Revolutionaries, giving both Connected and Advancing the Liberation of Night. If you don’t really care about helping the people it seems most fitting for your character.[/quote] it does? seems counter intuitive to me and i dont want to miss out on the lovely writing but as much as it pains me your completely right it is so perfectly in character for him that i simply cant do anything else.[/quote]Choosing to leave continues the plight of the poor and the needy relatively untouched. This breeds resentment. Resentment breeds anger. Anger brings violent revolution. The French learned that lesson well when the poor were trodden upon one too many times. The revolution is sustained by promising that it alone will be their salvation, no matter the cost. Should the people feel that life may be getting better, they may not support the violence and anarchy they associate with the revolutionary cause. Contentment is the enemy of progress, after all.

The Liberation of Night is advanced probably because of the building anger in the working class, which supports the revolutionaries. The revolutionaries may see your actions as an act of defiance against the Masters, bolstering your stock with them. Even if they believe the Masters could bring about positive change, to them it would still be poisoned, still at the mercy of the Masters. They could see these laws as a sword hanging over the neck of the poor: fall in line or lose all you’ve gained.

As for me, I chose to help the urchins. While allowing the poor to sell stories to the Bazaar could be the best for the most people, it runs the risk of people creating these stories for the sake of profit. An artificial love does little good to anyone, and it’s too dangerous to make heartbreak a highly profitable venture. While I support the Clay Men, the law doesn’t go far enough to protect them and Londoners would still have difficulty accepting them. While supporting the urchins could make petty theft a more profitable venture, it also helps support the Ringbreakers. I’m sure their clients would have scraps they’re willing to hand out, but to be fair, this runs the risk of clients choosing to pay exclusively in scraps…

Actually, it could just be the pessimist in me, but these choices all have their downsides. For the urchins and the poor, helping them could leave them at the mercy of the Bazaar while encouraging heartless or criminal behavior, while the Clay Men barely receive anything, while quite possibly infuriating Londoners who feel that their Parliament is supporting Clay Men over them. They each have their definite benefits, and if all goes well, change really could be coming to London, but it really makes you wonder.[/quote]
The Masters are making a deliberate attempt at divide and rule. It’s a trick, not a good faith effort, and they’re trying to get you, the token dissident/member of the public, to share in the responsibility. So I think one can morally defend walking away from the whole charade.

I loved this season ending. We get so few chances to hear or see the Masters speak. (I wish Mr Pages had been there to answer the question about his children.) This seems particularly great for newish players, who get to peek at some of the deeper lore &quotsecrets&quot that are now common knowledge among longtime players.

[quote=crazyroosterman]so im at the first set of choices and i cant decide what to pick you see my character is a hardcore revolutionary sympathizer and HATES the maesters with a passion so keeping in character i want to pick what will hurt/inconvenience them the most.

but as mentioned i cant decide so i thought id ask the opinion of the folks here (keeping in mind this is the first set of choices specifically) also keep in mind that my character dosent care about improving the peoples quality of life at all.[/quote]

It sounds like you may have already decided to walk out of the proceedings, but if you’d like to hear my similar view…

I play a ruthless character who places revenge on the Masters above all else (shaped initially by Ambition: Nemesis). Deeply connected to the Revolutionaries, they (usually) assist the downtrodden only when it could inconvenience the Masters or provide access to potential weapons.

So:

  1. The poor trading stories to the Bazaar? This just gives the leeches what they want.

  2. Urchins trading in stories and other materials? Similar, but more uncertain. If it swells the ranks of urchins and wind-worshippers, that’s another ambiguous power for the Masters to contend with. If it brings the weak down from the rooftops and into a boarding home, they just join the Masters’ workforce. All in all, the urchins are not yet movers and shakers in the city, and the policy would likely have little effect on my goals.

  3. Clay Men holidays? Well… we’ve seen they can think for themselves, and if they start to congregate in a more organized fashion, perhaps displaying my clay arm will buy me the influence I need to learn more about geobiology, and to direct their grievances to the proper target…
    edited by TheThirdPolice on 6/1/2017

I genuinely am having trouble with the wording here. It wants me to pick one to destroy, but everyone sounds like it will only enact one. Are they enacting the one I pick or is it going to have me destroy two of them and go with the one left?

I feel like destroying the one that “helps” the poor is the best option, partially because love stories help the Bazaar, but also because allowing people to sell stories of heartbreak for money… It feels like that would end up with desperate people hurting each other for echoes.

I ended up instituting the urchin helping one, because the hour off a week doesn’t seem like it would be of much benefit to the clay men? As much as I like how it reminds me of the Discworld Golems.

I refused to participate in that farce. Arbitrary rules to impede social improvements? Bringing in an outsider to take on the legislative responsibility that should be born by civic government and the Masters? Expecting me to turn my back on the privations of the many to spare a few?

I prefer to see London united in solidarity against the systemic abuses. And make the mighty choose and bear the repercussions of their own actions (and inaction).

Gained a Ray-drenched Cinder, Connected: Revolutionaries, and advancing the Liberation of Night

edited by Pnakotic on 6/2/2017

In case anyone was wondering, all the options give a Ray-Drenched Cinder as a reward.

So the decision is all about your preferred policy.