I got the impression that her research was entirely original and the astronomers were lying so they could get their hands on it.

• That the Astrologer actually had plausible motivations that made sense underlying her villainy (she reminded me of Ozymandias from Watchmen), instead of doing things 'for the evils' (although since the player is on the receiving end of being an unwitting 'sacrifice' for her vision of a 'greater good' that diminishes one's ability to sympathize and agree with her from a subjective point of view).
  
  
• That choosing what to do with the Astrologer and what to do with her research were two separate and distinct options. I had to hold her accountable for her actions, but I was hoping not to waste her research, which was valuable and people had died for. I was delighted when I saw the choice in the epilogue; it's one of the many times I developed a 'headcanon' for what I would do that the writers ended up actually foreseeing as well and offering, which is always fantastic.

[spoiler]Especially given what I learned from the Blind Astronomer I talked to at the end. Apparently, the Astronomers at the Observatory on Watchmaker's Hill have known about this phenomena for a very long time. In fact, it sounds like she stole research from the Observatory and was doing who knows what with it. The fact that the thing she left behind at the Observatory was Pulsating Amber given the other things involving amber in this story is very unnerving.[/spoiler]

I am pretty danged happy with this story. I've been wanting to go to the rooftop for ages now!

I do kind of have one gripe, though.

[spoiler]

See, I'm playing a 200 Dangerous, Shattering Force, Licentiate-turned-Monster Hunter whose whole deal is violencing as much of the Neath flora and fauna as possible. And I was absolutely looking forward to gleefully murdering my way through as many Starved Men as humanly possible. Instead, I spend nearly all my time getting bodied by them again and again, not even able to hurt them a little when my whole thing is making grievous bloodshed. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand that carving a bloody-swath type path would have been a lot more work, however beautiful it would have been for me personally, and that's not my beef. But I do kind of wish I could have at least taken a few of them down when I tried, rather than just totally jobbing it and getting thrown in jail.

[/spoiler]

That's just a small thing, though. I'm still very pleased with this story, and it ranks among my favorites.

[spoiler]*SNIP* However, if I'm able to switch to the feeding platform and rescue the other prisoner as well, I'm going for that option instead. So, does anyone know if both prisoners can be rescued by visiting both options?[/spoiler]

Thanks guys. No I don't have a subscription, as I'd had a break from Fallen London for a while due to time restraints and only came back the other day and thought I had until the end of the month to decide so looks like I missed out by a day (Went to buy it yesterday.) Not so sure on the next story so might leave buying a subscription for another month (In the past I've tended to buy them month by month if I really like the look of the stories.)
edited by Alyndah on 7/28/2018
edited by Alyndah on 7/28/2018

However there is a plot hole, pending the conclusion of Light Fingers: <snip>

• The Entomologist was a fantastic character (and her portrait is great, too). She was sympathetic, but there are early hints that something about her is a little...off.
• Learning about and gaining a false-star sign was fun. Did it actually have any bearing on the story once you reach the Citadel?
• The frantic escape from the citadel was superb and actually had my heart racing! I liked being able to rescue the prisoners, too.
• The choices offered at the end of the story were more nuanced than some other stories, which was a nice touch.

• The instant KO after arriving at the Citadel felt cheap, especially with a high-Dangerous character. To preserve a sense of player agency without branching the story, an alternative way of doing this sort of thing, I suggest, could be with a single difficult Dangerous challenge. On a failure, the character is KO'd and dragged off, just like in the story. On success, there could be a description of the fight, about how you take down a group of attackers until they call for reinforcements and eventually drag you down through sheer numbers, etc. Perhaps you get a minor reward for succeeding (a Tale of Terror, or a Hard-Earned Lesson, etc). Pass or fail, the ultimate result is the same: you're knocked out and dragged off to a cell, but it feels less "cheap" than your Shattering Force, etc., character feeling useless in a fight. This is similar to the complaints players raised about the luck-based challenges in the chase sequence near the end of The Seven-Day Reign.

Now a few people have played, I did have two questions:

[spoiler] And what was the purpose of the paperweight, if you chose to pick it up, and can it be found in the "Myself", as I can't seem to spot it?[/spoiler]