Above False Stars

To the end of Fallen London

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Yeah, I haven't been active lately. My laptop died, and I haven't finished moving everything over to the new laptop. Also I'm lazy.

So! A lot is said about how great the funtime nightmare St. Beau's Candle carnival is. Some people have said they wished they could go back. Some have said it makes SMEN up to this point worth it. Hah, well I dunno about that. An awful lot of grinding to reach this point. But, because of all that is said about it, I'll probably not be posting too much on the results and text of the storylets there. Maybe it'll be a nice little present for you folks considering Seeking.

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Oop. Not quite time yet.

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It is time...

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LOL

lolololololol

Nothing in Fallen London has quite made me as happy as I am now. Could I just stay on this screen forever? Yes, it was a bug--cute lil critter--that got me 30 Secular Missionaries. And now the jig is up. But, we rather did enjoy our, lamentably, short time together, didn't we?

And, man, if this is the stuff Tales of Terror are made of, what are the 63 other terrors my guy's got all about?

[surfacestars-blog]

It's finally done and over with. Nothing stopping me now except my own curiosity. I would like to have at that last Fate-locked Expedition before I go. But, who knows if the Failbetter developers are even working on that? I'll wait until my irrigo dissipates. And then, to the stars!

[surfacestars-blog]

I have 30 Secular Missionaries. Do you have 30 Secular Missionaries? (Now a part of my Mantlepiece)

Victor Gulenko gets all the bitches.

[occasionalmadness]

How?  And can I have a harem of Firebrands instead?

Also, what is that darling moth/butterfly pet next to her?  I have never seen if before.

[surfacestars-blog]

Good question! The butterfly-like creature comes from the Nadir in the option that requires you be a Great Piece in the game or something like that. It's bonuses are very sub-standard for the level you'll almost certainly be getting it at. But, you could hope for an Opportunity Card related to it, or an opportunity for it to transform into something else, I guess.

And no. No harem of Firebrands I'm afraid :(

[surfacestars-blog]

I have 30 Secular Missionaries. Do you have 30 Secular Missionaries? (Now a part of my Mantlepiece)

Victor Gulenko gets all the bitches.

[surfacestars-blog]

Hallelujah! After obstacle and obstacle and obstacle was added to this questline last minute, to think I actually got there. For a couple days I actually thought I was going to lose the Correspondence Stones to Virginia meaning I'd have to buy them at the University with a King's ransom. Man it was looking so bad for me. But, luckily Alexis took pity upon me on my bug report and showered me with archaeology supplies. So many ups to him.

You know, I thought, maybe, just maybe, one day I'll return to this content and get the text for the other betrayals I skipped over using the new options. But, with the new absurd barriers to player betrayals, that's not going to happen. Ever. Like ever.

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Man, I thought things had gotten as hard as they were going to get after they made the 70 Watchful and 3 levels of Scholar of the Correspondence change. WRONG. When that change came, it took a little over 2 weeks grinding to meet it. Now, it'll take something like 3 weeks. What changed? Expeditions.

Before, you paid 8 echoes worth of various scrap to get the Archaeologist's Hat. After that at 73 Watchful you get your Correspondence Stones. Then at 80 Watchful you get your first level of Scholar of the Correspondence. Finally you can easily grind up to 3 levels.

NOW, however, to start your expeditioning, you need to lay down 1000 Whispered Secrets, 250 Cryptic Clues, and 1 Tale of Terror. And that's just to get you started. After that you are going to need to grind out 20 supplies to go for two thieves' caches to reach level 2, and who knows how many times you have to do the 20 supply expedition to the shrine of the Deep Blue Heaven to reach level 3 archaeologist. Each supply is either 200 whispered secrets, 10 appalling secrets, or 50 rostygold + Docks relations. That's... going to take some time.

Everything is sooo much harder now about making alts for this quest path. Don't even bother. Maybe if you happen to be making an alt to explore other ambitions and pathlines in the game and he just happens to have the stats and resources to get the Correspondence Stones, sure whatever. But, don't make an alt just for the Betraying.

Just grind up 400 echoes for cats. You'll have a much better time.

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...

o_O

Um. Yeah. That happened.

At first I thought I had created a Starveling Cat.

"So that's how they're made!"

But, on reflection, this... transformation seems more sinister than that.

Anyway, this will probably be the main way new Seekers will get St. Arthur's Candle. Being the only feasable repeatable betrayal of the bunch. Cause, if you don't already know, you can't just grind up Alts to 30 Watchful now. Instead, player betrayals require 70 Watchful and 3 levels of Scholar of Correspondence. Harsh. That's more than 2 weeks of solid grinding even if you use the chocolate box code to buy Watchful equips.

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The good thing about betraying this guy is that once he's betrayed he's out of your hair forever.

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The first of the new betrayals I went for. In retrospect, a bad idea. I had managed to avoid the "An Admirer of Beauty" beauty quality up to this point of the game. And now, even though we are bitterly departed, I'm still getting that annoyingly often opportunity card of hers because of said quality. Next time I go through this storyline, I think I'll skip betraying the Artist's Model. Maybe. There's still the Fail result of hers to find.

[saint-arthur]

Exciting Expeditioning Evaluation

So, a Brand New Content approaches! Those with Watchful of at least 60 and access to the Forgotten Quarter can embark upon an Archaeological Expedition! Currently there isn’t overmuch to do, but there’ll be more Soon (tm)

As this content is liable to change rapidly as new things are added, I’ll keep this updated on new developments for at least a while.

Read More

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Picnics!

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New Content in the Forgotten Quarter: Expeditions!

There's new content in the Forgotten Quarter. Most of them are "impossible" right now--weren't there people who briefly had the quality Impossible during the end event of the Feast of the Exceptional Rose?--but I hope that changes soon. I'm nearing the end of my quest, and there are a couple of fun looking Fate only options I would love to write reviews. It's actually a bit challenging finding promising Fate content that's worth less than 10 Fate.

Also "Diamonds" have changed to "Flawed Diamonds," and the "See if Empire Adornments is Open" has changed accordingly with a new option.

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People Have Been Sending Me Messages?!?!

So I've just discovered the little envelope icon on the top of my tumblr dashboard! And it turns out people have been sending me messages?! Some important messages too it turns out.

UMMM

Sorry! I wasn't ignoring you. Just being a tumblr noob -_-'

Just changed up my tumblr theme too so it should be much easier on the eyes now.

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Another major stickler point of St. Arthur's Candle, besides finding willing volunteers to be betrayed, is having the Searing Enigmas to send them out. This new option on that Opportunity Card remedies that. For those without a boat, this is your best for Searing Enigmas. I hear there is another source of Searing Enigmas out at sea. I don't know, though, how good that source is. The odds aren't terrible at Odds Are Strongly Against You if you've already got 4 Searing Enigmas from the A Survivor of the Affair of the Box.

I mean I got 3 Searing Enigmas in a row so chances are pretty good you'll be getting Searing Enigmas faster than you can spend them.

Oh and I should warn. Success on this luck check will almost certainly increase your menace level by one. Maybe, maybe if you are on level 7 with no change points it won't bump you up to level 8. But, I wouldn't bet on it.

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1 Fate for the Secrets of Devils is a Great Deal, however

There are a few choices out there needing a few tidbits of Fate to unlock promising secret knowledge. One that has caught my eye very early on is the Stealth Watch Repair requiring the Albino Rat.

After all, what could the devil's be up to fiddling with someone's watch? An explosive plant, maybe? The rare success result from the Talkative Rat in particular gets the imagination running. How high could the devil's Baroque stat be going into this Stealth Watch Repair gambit?

Turns out not that high at all. Not to say the results you get from this choice is not eye opening! It's actually a very substantial amount of text you get for only 1 Fate. There are few places in Fallen London that has this much text. And after reading all that, you will be like "Ah! But of course! How could it be anything but that? It's always that way with devils." Surprisingly, with the rare result of the Talkative Rat, he is actually on the right track. But, not in any way you can actually guess.

I would say this choice is a steal for only 1 Fate. It brings new light to other operations of devils like with the Intimate with Devils quest line. Why they would go through all that effort for a single soul when regular souls go for 2 pence pittance, and you can only rightly expect your soul to be brilliant which only goes for half an echo. It certainly widens the scope of devils beyond that of simple illegal spirifier activities.

So yes, I would say this option is for sure worth only 1 Fate. Definitely worth 3 Fate. Maybe even 5 but that would depend on the rewards, wouldn't it? I, however, don't remember the rewards for this Fate content so I can't say. I can say, though, that intangible tangible Fallen London goodies definitely aren't the point of this Fate content.