Upwards


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A Probationary Professor is looking for assistants for a perilous venture. Inspired by the fever for palaeontology and armed with a doctorate on the ritual practices of the Starved Men, she’s looking to lead an expedition to the cavern roof. [/color]

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[/color][color=#ff00cc]Upwards is a Fate-locked story that allows you to accompany a Probationary Professor who has a brazen theory regarding a missing and heretical sect of the Starved Men.
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[color=#ff00cc]Read more here.

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edited by SaraFBG on 11/24/2020
edited by SaraFBG on 11/24/2020

In case there’s any doubt, this is for high-level players only. About two actions in, you need three Parabolan orange-apples to proceed.

Oh, so this isn’t a new ES? I had assumed it was, but then I never really pay attention, do I?

While I appreciate the heads up, I also appreciate-

EDIT: Well now I feel silly, nothing to see here other than I’m vaguely curious and I’ve got all my Parabolan orange-apples.
edited by Hattington on 11/24/2020

Feeling a little silly here, but how does one go about purchasing this? Nothing is appearing on my Fate page, and I don’t have a stall.

Oh! Is this the traditional holiday ES?!? Exciting!

…was the one about the Empress’ Shadow released round the same time? I’d honestly forgotten.

Anyway I’m finished, got the whole thing echoed on my mantelpiece. Got a weird ribcage, will get a weird skull after my action refreshes and an upside-down digsite I can apparently repeat for more skulls (though I’ll need a Cartographer’s Hoard for more ribcages). Never had to uh, sacrifice parts of myself but that may have been because thanks to a convenient stockpile of Favors: Bohemian and Infernal plus high Dangerous I blitzed through the digging.

Not sure, I kinda think not. The previous ones have all been released later (like mid-December), cost more Fate (but variable), and the announcements all say &quotFestive&quot and include links to other holiday stuff.

This feels more like Flute Street or Theological Husbandry to me: a Fate-locked extension to end-ish-game content.

The story part is interesting, but kinda small. Presumably access to the new bones are the main rewards. I’m not extremely impressed by the bones at the moment, based on skeleton value per action, although some specific recipes might make them more appealing.

Best cover ever.

It’s smashing, isn’t it? Puts me in mind of my trip to the ceiling in a dirigible full of Rubberies. I miss those guys, they were a great bunch of lads(?).

>>>I’m not extremely impressed by the bones at the moment, based on skeleton value per action

Can you elaborate, please?

[quote=Waterpls]>>>I’m not extremely impressed by the bones at the moment, based on skeleton value per action

Can you elaborate, please?[/quote]
Spoilers, because Fate-locked.

Repeatable rewards are access two unique bones, a torso and a skull. The process of obtaining them has an overhead, which from memory (no actions at the moment) is probably 6 or 7 actions.

The Torso gives a skeleton value of 312.5 echoes, but also costs a Cartographer’s Hoard, which can be sold at the Bazaar for 312.5 echoes. The Skull has a skeleton value of 12.5 echoes [edit: but comes with bone fragments].

Because of the overhead, neither of those seem like straight-up great bones to me [edit: the fragments overcome the overhead]. There are some good uses, but there’s kind of around the edges. While it’s awkward to use, the torso is more directly grindable than other big-big torsos (having Hephaesta helps). And the skull gives both Menace and Amalgamy, which no other skull does.

I may place less value on an Amalgamous skull than most other players, because I’m a Crooked-Cross. I have significantly easier access to Skulls in Coral, and I also have a second source of Mortifications so I don’t need as many Final Breaths.

[Edit] I noticed, but failed to remember, that the Skull also comes with a smattering of bone fragments. The economics are much better than I had thought. No idea if the torso comes with a sweetener.

Edited; my impression has improved.
edited by PSGarak on 11/24/2020

Looking forward to try this out. The art is absolutely gorgeous ^^

Any Light Fingers tie-ins?

The storylet to start it appears in the Bone Market. There are two options; if you take one, the storylet leaves the Market and the story becomes available in the Fate area. Either way, it’s a Fate-locked piece of content.
edited by Catherine Raymond on 11/24/2020

[quote=Catherine Raymond]
The storylet to start it appears in the Bone Market. There are two options; if you take one, the storylet leaves the Market and the story becomes available in the Fate area. Either way, it’s a Fate-locked piece of content.
edited by Catherine Raymond on 11/24/2020[/quote]

Much obliged!

Hmm, it feels a little insubstantial for a fate purchase. You procure a simple list of items, pass a few skill checks and make a simple-ish moral choice with little consequence. The repeatable dig is nice but I expected a bit more in terms of lore and story. The Starved Men are very interesting to me but we didn’t get much lore about them other than “They’re savages who practice the shapeling arts on themselves”, which we already knew.

Agreed. I’m not sure if there was more to learn if you let the Starved Men capture you but I instinctively win fights at all costs so I didn’t get that much out of this.

I liked this story, but it seemed pretty short. I wish we could explore of the roof now that we have a small base there. I wanna learn more of the starved men and how they practice the shapeling arts.

As a Fate purchase, this seems most directly comparable to old-school Fate stories, like Flute Street, Theological Husbandry, A Trade in Faces, the Blemmigan Affair, etc. A short-ish one-time story, plus permanently-accessible new options and some mechanical advantage. We haven’t seen something like that in a long time!

It’s comparable to those. Perhaps less overall content and less memorable than Flute Street, but certainly more than the Velocipede Squad. The value of the mechanical benefits are more subtle than I might like. Yes, there’s a new torso, but on the surface it doesn’t actually seem good for anything, until you run some numbers and discover than Saint Jadwiga the Hungry, Patron of Starfish has 150 echoes worth of heresy. I am definitely appreciating the ability to just farm Bone Fragments. But they seem so indirect compared to a 4-BDR transport, or the Beasts, or new options on a Faction card.

The &quotsize&quot of a Fate purchase seems nonlinear with the amount of Fate. Certainly this is more than twice the value of a 12-Fate Christmas purchase (which is like 3 actions), but also less than half the content of a 45-Fate Exceptional Story.