James StAnthony
Administrator
Posts: 49
8/26/2021
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Exceptional Story for September: Damp Martyrs
A wealthy heiress has disappeared! Her family suspect kidnap, and blame the Circumcellion Brotherhood: a nautical band of martyr-marauders. Join a naval task force to uncover the truth, and learn whether salvation can be found on the cold Unterzee.
Written by Gavin Inglis
Art by Monika Eidintaite
Editing and QA: Bruno Dias and James Chew
EXCEPTIONAL FRIENDSHIP
In addition to a new, substantial, stand-alone story every month, Exceptional Friends enjoy:
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You no longer need to log in to claim your Exceptional Stories! If you have an active subscription when one is available, you'll receive it automatically.
edited by James StAnthony on 8/26/2021
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Plynkes
Posts: 877
8/26/2021
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Hmmm... Is it really wise to go to zee with a baby Master clinging to one's back? Oh well, I guess all will be well as long as I don't fall in.
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"Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop, but don't tell me."
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Captain Blood Storm
Posts: 612
8/26/2021
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Wow, I really resent the Knife-and-Candle accusation. We haven't had a good Knife-and-Candle match in years now.
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Captain Blood Storm, the Discordant, Twice-Dawnburnt, Worm-Hugging Vake Rider https://www.fallenlondon.com/Profile/Hattington
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Aronia
Posts: 57
8/26/2021
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[spoiler]It quickly becomes apparent that these contestants are not the blind drunk specimens common at the Wolfstack card tables. Worse, the ship has its own catalogue of zee-themed games and just when you think you've grasped one, the dealer shifts to another.
You hold your own at Loose Cannon, but the cards turn against you during Stem the Tide. When the dealer announces Slippery Stack, the alliterative card game of the lighthouse professional, you cut your losses. There's always next shift. [/spoiler]
Oh come on, I won the Marvellous, and now I lose to some zailors 50% of the time?
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Lucy actually has a nice heart. Well, sometimes.
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Aronia
Posts: 57
8/26/2021
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Captain Blood Storm wrote:
Wow, I really resent the Knife-and-Candle accusation. We haven't had a good Knife-and-Candle match in years now.
Some of us have never participated in it. Descended after it came, made their name, left the Court, built a Zubmarine, returned to the Court, equipped a lab, built the Railway, won the Marvellous, waged war in Parabola. And never ever had a chance to see what K&C even is.
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Lucy actually has a nice heart. Well, sometimes.
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0bsidian Fire
Posts: 128
8/26/2021
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This one felt... short. I was expecting to be able to talk to her mom as a way to wrap everything up as an Epilogue. Instead you just make the choice and it ends within one storylet...
Not that the ending was *bad* mind you. I liked the outcome of her joining the Church a lot.
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Kharagal Mierqid - Bohemian Correspondent who is obsessed with the Language of Stars...
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Pnakotic
Posts: 295
8/26/2021
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Wow, just starting this and already I have important story info not saving to my journal. Any way to reset?
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J. Ward Dunn, Glassman
Book of All Hours 9:99: Journey's end in lover's meeting. Progress is ascendancy.
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Captain Blood Storm
Posts: 612
8/26/2021
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I agree with 0bsidian Fire, it was quite a short story. A sympathetic one to be sure, but I was expecting a bit more progress after the two boat trips or some degree of resolution between the daughter and her mother. And once again, what may have been a meaningful discussion about death and martyrdom has been utterly spoiled by my absolute certainty that everyone who dies in the Neath is going to the Far Shore and/or the Sapphir’d King’s larder per the Boatman stories/Sunless Skies.
I’d be more comfortable with sending her to join the Church if I didn’t know the Bishop of Southwark quite frankly doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing trying to connive with snakes to attack Hell, if I hadn’t seen countless souls stripped of name and face before they were devoured by a celestial maw and if I didn’t know that the closest thing to a loving divine being in the setting is the broken, deposed, lonely Black. But I do, so I decided being a menace eradicator was a more useful skillset than being a nun.
Aronia wrote:
Captain Blood Storm wrote:
Wow, I really resent the Knife-and-Candle accusation. We haven't had a good Knife-and-Candle match in years now.
Some of us have never participated in it. Descended after it came, made their name, left the Court, built a Zubmarine, returned to the Court, equipped a lab, built the Railway, won the Marvellous, waged war in Parabola. And never ever had a chance to see what K&C even is.
I just regret never participating while I had the chance. Or well, being too low-level to have a reasonable chance of consistently triumphing against the then-frequent participants. That wax-wind knife is quite something.
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Captain Blood Storm, the Discordant, Twice-Dawnburnt, Worm-Hugging Vake Rider https://www.fallenlondon.com/Profile/Hattington
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Alexander Feld
Posts: 427
8/27/2021
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I liked this one, but agree that the ending was a bit abrupt. I would also have liked to have the option of encouraging her to try doing some charitable works with her inheritance. Maybe introduce her to Jenny or Furnace.
Incidentally, there’s an option for those of us who became a Bishop, for anyone who’s recording ES tie-ins.
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I am a star-gazer, story-eater, and a smelter of words.
I filch hidden things from hidden places, to hide once more in my dark cabinet of curiosities
Alexander Feld, the mad, damned, lord of seekers.
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PJ
Posts: 788
8/27/2021
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Aronia wrote:
Oh come on, I won the Marvellous, and now I lose to some zailors 50% of the time?
I'm Mr Cards; I'm not even sure I can lose a card game. Or does that power only work against urchins?
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https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Peter%20James
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NotaWalrus
Posts: 462
8/27/2021
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Well, this one was a resounding "meh". It was basically just a fully linear progression of action gates, culminating in my character just deciding for the Inheratrix. Like, not even encouraging her in a certain direction, literally just decided the rest of her life there on the spot after having had a single digit of conversations with her. Don't get me wrong, I did like the Inheratrix, and I must admit that the fleshing-out of the Circumcellion Brotherhood was very well-done.
If nothing else, this story really excels at taking a single random opportunity card from The Broad Unterzee and developing it into a believable part of the world.
I doubt it is so, but I'm hoping for this story to add a branch to the Circumcellion Brotherhood card that acknowledges the fact that I have served in one of their ships.
Also, is there by any chance an option for Monster Hunters during the beast battle? I feel like there ought to be, but I didn't see any locked options (Not a Monster Hunter, just curious.)
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http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/NotaWalrus
Ignacious, the Fluid Professor, he will accept most social invitations, including boxed cats and affluent photographers (but only betrayals), though he is absent-minded and might take more time than entirely necessary. He apologizes.
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NotaWalrus
Posts: 462
8/27/2021
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Well, this one was a resounding "meh". It was basically just a fully linear progression of action gates, culminating in my character just deciding for the Inheratrix. Like, not even encouraging her in a certain direction, literally just decided the rest of her life there on the spot after having had a single digit of conversations with her. Don't get me wrong, I did like the Inheratrix, and I must admit that the fleshing-out of the Circumcellion Brotherhood was very well-done.
If nothing else, this story really excels at taking a single random opportunity card from The Broad Unterzee and developing it into a believable part of the world.
I doubt it is so, but I'm hoping for this story to add a branch to the Circumcellion Brotherhood card that acknowledges the fact that I have served in one of their ships.
Also, is there by any chance an option for Monster Hunters during the beast battle? I feel like there ought to be, but I didn't see any locked options (Not a Monster Hunter, just curious.)
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http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/NotaWalrus
Ignacious, the Fluid Professor, he will accept most social invitations, including boxed cats and affluent photographers (but only betrayals), though he is absent-minded and might take more time than entirely necessary. He apologizes.
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Captain Blood Storm
Posts: 612
8/27/2021
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PJ wrote:
Aronia wrote:
Oh come on, I won the Marvellous, and now I lose to some zailors 50% of the time?
I'm Mr Cards; I'm not even sure I can lose a card game. Or does that power only work against urchins?
Have we checked if it works at the games of the House of Chimes? I initially wondered if the Fathomking might be petty enough to counter-rig all card games at sea, but on second thought it might very well be a power that exists only to cheat urchins, specifically, out of their meagre savings.
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Captain Blood Storm, the Discordant, Twice-Dawnburnt, Worm-Hugging Vake Rider https://www.fallenlondon.com/Profile/Hattington
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Skinnyman
Posts: 2316
8/27/2021
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Please shoot a message if you find any interesting quality and item requirements for this ES!
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ESs items and quality requirements sheet. Please check if there are errors or if something is missing
Achievement list if you're feeling bored!
I am accepting Plant battles, Neath's Mysteries card, Starveling Cats and boxed cats.
No suppers, no second chances gain and no need to cure my menaces!
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radicalace
Posts: 14
8/28/2021
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Another meh zee episode, imo. I feel like the nature of the zee makes things a bit railroady because inevitably leaving London reduces the PCs autonomy by quite a lot.
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My Profile
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Catherine Raymond
Posts: 2776
8/28/2021
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0bsidian Fire wrote:
This one felt... short. I was expecting to be able to talk to her mom as a way to wrap everything up as an Epilogue. Instead you just make the choice and it ends within one storylet...
Not that the ending was *bad* mind you. I liked the outcome of her joining the Church a lot.
I also sent her to the Church, and I'm satisfied with that result, but I would have liked an epilogue with the mother.
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Cathy Raymond
http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/cathyr19355
Catherine Raymond aka Mrs. Rykar Malkus http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Catherine%20Raymond (Gone NORTH)
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Ixc
Posts: 439
8/29/2021
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To pitch in my two cents, I think the ending should have signposted
[spoiler]
being able to have her work with the Bishop of Southwark, as I believed I was sending her to Abbey Wash where she wouldn't be able to visit her mother as compared with the Department of Menace Eradication.
[/spoiler]
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Pleased to meet you. Ixc, spy and detective. Inventor of the Correspondence Cannon.
Are you a Paramount Presence? Record your name here. For posterity, of course.
Being poked incessantly by nightmares? Poke them back!
Vote the Viscountess for Mayor!
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lost in light
Posts: 88
9/2/2021
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NotaWalrus wrote:
I doubt it is so, but I'm hoping for this story to add a branch to the Circumcellion Brotherhood card that acknowledges the fact that I have served in one of their ships.
I was delighted to discover that there is, in fact, an option on the Circumcellion Brotherhood card at Zee for those who completed the story!
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NotaWalrus
Posts: 462
9/2/2021
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lost in light wrote:
I was delighted to discover that there is, in fact, an option on the Circumcellion Brotherhood card at Zee for those who completed the story!
Really? I recently went to zee and didn't see any options on the card. Either it's new or ending-dependant. What did you choose for the Inheratrix?
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http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/NotaWalrus
Ignacious, the Fluid Professor, he will accept most social invitations, including boxed cats and affluent photographers (but only betrayals), though he is absent-minded and might take more time than entirely necessary. He apologizes.
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lost in light
Posts: 88
9/3/2021
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NotaWalrus wrote:
Really? I recently went to zee and didn't see any options on the card. Either it's new or ending-dependant. What did you choose for the Inheratrix?
I chose for the Inheratrix to join the church. I kept an echo of the card (linked), no screenshot, sorry, dated Sep 2nd.
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