Walking on shaky ground here, I know… but I like to know what I’m getting into, at least in general terms, before I commit to something. And there are two storylets that I’ve been hesitant to do because I have no idea what kind of consequences or rewards they might involve.
First and foremost, there’s the option at the bottom of the Labyrinth of Tigers to sabotage the Bishop’s breeding-project for the Devils. It’s considered Fate-locked by the Wiki because you need a full set of Monsters to do it, including the Tentacled Hound which requires you to buy access to Flute Street to obtain. Now, I’ve already GOT that (and a Bisected Owl, thankyouverymuch), but I’m still worried about taking this option. Firstly because it seems like it could cause some serious damage to my Connected: The Church (which I’ve been hoarding in order to power up my upcoming wedding with lots of Touching Love Stories), and secondly because you presumably LOSE all four of the monsters… and collecting them all is a major chore, so I’d like to be sure you actually get something out of it that’s worth all the hassle.
Secondly, there’s the fate-locked ‘One last voyage?’ option on the Decommissioned Steamer’s opportunity-card. It requires some reasonably valuable stuff, in addition to 9 Fate and a whooping 10 Actions, and from the description alone, I’ve got not the vaguest idea what it leads to. I’m not looking for story-spoilers, but some idea of whether you get anything worthwhile out of it all would be nice. For that matter, the most LOGICAL result of getting that thing moving again would be to provide you with a Rusty Tramp Steamer… which I have no particular use for, seeing as I’m already cruisin’ in style with a Luxury Yacht.
That first option will definitely kill your church connections. Last I heard it gave a Portfolio of Souls; not sure if that’s still the case.
Not sure what the other option gives apart from a point of Masters connection. Definitely not a Rusty Tramp Steamer.
The ‘One Last Voyage’ option gives some minor items (less in value than the items it takes), three points of a hard-to-raise connection, and a quantity of MWs. I felt it was a bit stingy the last time I took it, considering the cost, but FB took a look and have decided that it was fair. Love the text for that option though.
(I’m a little biased, but unexpected MWs are close to worthless to me’ and I never use the connection it raises, so it felt like a big waste of fate, items, and actions. You may feel differently.
edited by RandomWalker on 8/8/2015
Sabotaging the BIshop give you two components that are mainly used to curry favors with Hell (2 is required for Nemesis), but they can be crafted with relative ease in the Sidestreet (approximately 50 actions per component). In exchange you wipe your Church connection and give up the four beasts. Capturing all four beasts probably take more than 100 actions, so it is not a very good deal. I don’t think you actually need Church connection at all to sabotage over and over though.
One Last Voyage is another "throw money into zee to make waves" lodging options, except it cost Fate so it had to be a better deal. The MW gained is a little bit higher than A Masque in the Marshes with slightly lower cost, but also grant you the same benefit as giving rare books to Mr Pages. The text is your typical FL cryptic dreamy hint at a secret (more relevant in Sunless Sea but still an enigma).
Am I correct that whether or not you sabotage will alter the choice of Destinies available to you?
Interesting… neither one sounds like a spectacular deal, but I’ll probably wind up doing both anyway. My character’s quite friendly with Hell, so in spite of everything, he’ll probably betray the Bishop. I’ll just have to make sure I’ve burned nearly all my Church-connection on wedding-preparations first. (Oh, and incidentally, from what I can see, you NEED at least 20 Connected: Church to take the option in the first place - the reasoning being that you need to earn the Bishop’s trust before you can betray him.)
As for the ‘Last Journey’, it sounds too intriguingly enigmatic to pass up… and besides, I AM climbing the Notability-ladder, so the boost should be welcome. I also kind of collected Connected: Masters, so that’d be a nice bonus…
EDIT: Oh, and just making sure… you can still do breeding after betraying the bishop, right? I mean, it doesn’t makes much sense from a storywise perspective, but gameplay-wise, it would be problematic to cut someone off from it.
edited by BlakeTheDrake on 8/9/2015
No idea. Although you can sabotage the Bishop without actually starting the Empyrean Redolence story needed to get the relevant destinies for the Bishop’s story, the option’s been there before destinies was implemented.
If it takes Church 20, then it is very probably a crap deal because you can grind out 2 Portfolio in less actions.
Of course, details on this sabotage might have changed (the results are from years ago), but I don’t think it has a permanent story effect.
I do have the rewards/results of Last Voyage echoed in my journal - date’s around 03 June, 1893. Consider a look if you really can’t decide.
edited by Estelle Knoht on 8/9/2015
…well, I just did the ‘sabotage the bishop’ option, and the reward did not, in fact, involve any Portfolios, nor even souls. All I got to show for my labors is a pair of Brass Rings… and 5400 Nevercold Brass. So yeah, not exactly a good deal. I was rather gaming on getting those Portfolios for my Nemesis-ambition - now it seems like I’ll have to craft one in the side-streets after all.
However, the option DOES have a luck-check (with 'pretty good odds), I noticed. I got ‘lucky’, but of course, that isn’t always indicative. Maybe the ‘bad luck’ option is the Portfolios?
Ouch. I don’t think the nature of the reward would change depending on whether you’re lucky or not (all the others just change the quantity).
[quote=BlakeTheDrake]…well, I just did the ‘sabotage the bishop’ option, and the reward did not, in fact, involve any Portfolios, nor even souls. All I got to show for my labors is a pair of Brass Rings… and 5400 Nevercold Brass. So yeah, not exactly a good deal. I was rather gaming on getting those Portfolios for my Nemesis-ambition - now it seems like I’ll have to craft one in the side-streets after all.
However, the option DOES have a luck-check (with 'pretty good odds), I noticed. I got ‘lucky’, but of course, that isn’t always indicative. Maybe the ‘bad luck’ option is the Portfolios?[/quote]
Ouch, I am sorry about that. I guess they changed it, then. But going by the pattern of other actions in Coil 4, the luck check probably just ups the number of the reward.